ROME - Pope Francis’ highly anticipated encyclical “Praised Be” will be published Thursday, and will call for a radical ethical and economic revolution to combat the world’s environmental crisis.

  The papal letter will be presented by Cardinal Peter Turkson, the president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and will also be published online in five languages, and sent to the world’s 5000 catholic bishops. 

  The papal letter, leaked early this week, will address the “tyrannical” exploitation of nature, which has been said to have crossed all natural boundaries. He wants to call for an ethical and economic revolution to prevent further climate change and inequality. Turkson reportedly saying that “much of the world remains in poverty, despite abundant resources, while privileged global elite controls the bulk of the world’s wealth and consumes the bulk of its resources.”

  The pontiff calls for a worldwide consensus in order to be able to confront the climate crisis, highlighting the need for sustainable agriculture, the development of energy forms, and more energy efficiency. He also wants to promote a better management of marine resources, and to ensure that all have access to clean water.  

  The pope, in his encyclical, compels politicians to take a more strident approach towards climate change. He praises the 1972 Stockholm declaration but suggests that the measures considered have not been carried out sufficiently. He talks about a politics based upon immediate results, and as such calls on the electorate to oblige politicians to provide policies that will have a more long lasting impact.

  The letter furthermore considers the fact that the environment is too tied down to capitalism, which is set to upset many big businesses, Vatican conservatives, and right-wing churches, many already denouncing his beliefs as too radical.  On the contrary, the letter will be very well received by developing countries. Neil Thorn, director of advocacy at the Catholic development agency Cafod said that “Francis has always put the poor at the centre of everything he has said”.

  Francis has been more interested in the environmental issues, and the current global warming crisis, than any one of his predecessors. Back in 2011, he chose his name after St Francis of Assisi, saying in the encyclical that St Francis “demonstrated a particular attention towards God’s creation and towards the poorest and most abandoned people”.

  Meanwhile, Sandro Magister, the journalist from Il Messaggero who leaked the draft encyclical, has been suspended by the Vatican press office indefinitely.