Earth Day the Wrong Way, Earth Day the Right Way

First, we have a commendation of literal tree-hugging.
A Franciscan friar:

“The two of us made a kind of journey together where we would take three steps, bow to the earth, and then take another three steps. Whenever my friend saw a flower, he would stop for a while and bow deeply. When he encountered a tree, he would stop for a while and hug the tree. You could feel the mystery of small flowers and trees…they cannot speak in the same way we do, but they are more deeply related to the mystery of God, the mystery of life.”[Emphasis supplied]

Um... no.
Just no.
"Small flowers and trees"? NOT more deeply related to the mystery of God than are humans, (who are, ya know, made in the image and likeness of God,) not more deeply related to anything other than other trees and flowers, and maybe not even to them.

Contrast to the spur of the moment remarks of a Jesuit pope:

two images came to me: The desert, and the forest. I thought, these people, all of you, all, are taking up the desert in order to transform it into a forest. They go where there’s desert, where there isn’t hope, and they do things to make a forest of this desert. The forest is full of trees, it’s full of vegetation, but too disorganized … but, life is like that. Passing from the desert to the forest is the beautiful work you do! You transform deserts into forests!...There are many deserts in the cities, deserts in people’s lives who don’t have a future, because there’s always – and I’ll underline a word here – always there are prejudices, fears. These people live and die in the desert of the cities....The desert is ugly, both the desert in the heart of all of us, as well as the desert in the city, in the peripheries, which is also an ugly thing. There’s also a desert that’s in the gated neighborhoods … It’s ugly, but the desert is there too. We must not be afraid to go to the desert to transform it into a forest, where there’s exuberant life, and to go dry the many tears so that everyone can smile. [Emphasis supplied]

Why, why... it's almost as if he's trying to tell us other people should be more important to us than trees! That the salvation of the snail darter must take a back seat to the salvation of souls!

That, dare I say? the Church rather than the Earth is our Mother!
Well done, Holy Father!
(Extra points for the reminder that the poverty with which the People of God must most be concerned is not  want of coin.)