John Allen predicts reaction to coming encyclical on the environment, starting with headlines saying Pope “backs strong limits on greenhouse gas emissions,” as if he “issued a political manifesto aligning himself with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, if not Greenpeace.”

That won’t be “entirely wrong,” says Allen.

Francis is indeed likely to accept the scientific consensus [sic] that global warming and climate change are real, and that human activity is the main cause. He’ll almost certainly call on nations to take strong action to address it. [Italics added]

Ah relevance, that will of the wisp that draws even supreme pontiffs into its orbit.

Question: Accepting this so-called consensus (consider the rascally deniers if you dare), will the Pope say why he accepts it? Will he invite discussion? (Heh: When do preachers invite discussion of anything?)

Will he become an important source for the global scientific community…

What he should do is read a book by a fellow South American, Hernando de Soto, a Peruvian who came back from a long stay in Europe, saw how poor Peru is, and wondered why.

He might have knit his brow, come up with a theory, and set about to prove it. Instead, he “made an honest search for the truth with an experiment,” writes publicist and former White House speechwriter Mark W. Davis for U.S. News.

His experiment was to open a business in Lima without bribing anyone. It would be a small garment factory — two sewing machines — which he would register with a government agency as required.

Sure he would, after standing in line and filling out forms for 289 days. It’s how small businesses get started all over the have-not (developing) world — everywhere “a paper jungle.” Which makes it impossible, so they…