In “Pope Francis goes off the rails on climate” (June 22), columnist Rich Lowry blasts Pope Francis’ recent encyclical on the environment and climate change entitled “Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home.”

Lowry attacks Francis for declaring climate change not only exists, but has been caused by humans. Obviously Lowry is toeing the party line and denies the existence of climate change, but the pope rightly does not. He has listened to and embraced the conclusions of 98 percent of the scientific community.

The reality of climate change is no longer subject to debate; it is an undeniable fact. Francis has called on all Catholics, which includes me, to take care of God’s creation, the Earth. We have turned this planet into an “immense pile of filth” by our rampant, mindless consumerism and the money-crazed ideals of capitalism. We have been treating the Earth as our collective garbage dump, open sewer and toxic waste dump for centuries. And we have reached a point where we can no longer carry on as we have, or our very existence is in peril.

Pope Francis has stated: “The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly human goal.” He does not say this lightly. Francis has every right to criticize an economic system that embraces Darwinian ideas and forgets about the poor, homeless, sick, hungry, orphaned, widowed and dying.

Jesus taught that we are to take care of these people because “As long as you did for one of these, the least of my people, you did it for me.” Pope Francis has issued an encyclical that is long overdue. Catholics all over the world are called to take care of and protect the Earth, and to take care of the people most in need. And this Catholic couldn’t be happier.