Blessed are the Diamond Makers

I have a confession to make. When I first read that the Pope had blessed a lab-grown diamond, I laughed. The cynical journalist in me dismissed it as a PR stunt.  But then I considered the fact that the leader of the world's 1.34 billion Catholics doesn't grant an audience to the first marketing guy to turn up at the Vatican requesting a product endorsement.
Diamond Foundry, the US-based manufacturer, had clearly been pushing at an open door when it made its approach. Pope Francis has been vocal in his support of sustainability issues over the last eight years, and has been particularly outspoken about the harm caused by mining. In July 2015 he spoke about those suffering as a result of mining activities, and he urged governments, suppliers, business leaders and investors to hold multinational mining companies to account over their behaviour.
 "The entire mining sector is undoubtedly required to effect a radical paradigm change to improve the situation in many countries," he said in a message to a conference organized by the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace and the Latin American Churches and Mining network. "Mining extracts wealth from land that paradoxically does not produce wealth for the local populations who remain poor." Let's not mistake that as an outright condemnation of diamond mining.  His comments were addressed to the mining sector as a whole. But nor does it suggest wholehearted support for our industry.
His words about "a radical paradigm change to improve the situation in many countries", were  echoed by Martin Roscheisen, the green tech entrepreneur and CEO of Diamond Foundry. He said the company was showcasing a "sustainably created diamond that entirely avoids the environmental and human toll of mining - hopefully a brilliant example of the kind of paradigm shift possible for at least some mineral resources."
The Pope's blessing is not so much for the diamond itself - albeit a remarkable 4.7-carat cross, cut as a single piece from a 30-carat rough - but for the method of manufacture.  The argument that mined diamonds cause harm and lab growns don't may strike many of us as too simplistic. But isn't that the essence of His Holiness's thinking? His explicit approval of a man-made diamond, together with his condemnation of harmful mining practices, appears to send out a clear message to his followers.
I'm no longer laughing about the Pope's blessing. Agree or disagree, it raises an important issue. He is spiritual leader to a fifth of the world's population, he does not take such decisions lightly and I do not doubt the purity of his motives.
By the way, the diamond he blessed, and two other identical gems, are being auctioned in aid of Scholas Occurrentes, a worldwide network of schools that he supports.  The highest bid currently is $27,000.

Have a fabulous weekend.