Firstly, the hole in the ozone layer has recovered through the incredible hard work and success of the international Montreal agreement of 1987 which phases out the use of ozone-depleting substances. This disaster was created and fixed by human action. If only we could act so effectively regarding man-made climate change.

Secondly, his views regarding Greta Thunberg and her message appear very different from those of the Pope.

When the Pope met Greta Thunberg in April this year, he urged her to continue her work. In his brilliant and beautifully written 2015 encyclical Laudato Si, Pope Francis agrees that current climate change is a result of human activity, is a global problem and has "grave implications". We see those now as Australia burns, species go extinct, reefs die, etc. The church is in complete agreement with the science which Greta only highlights.

I ask everyone, regardless of their religious and political affiliations, to read Laudato Si (google it - at least paragraphs 20 to 26) and heed its words and Greta's while we can still avert further climate catastrophe.

I refer to a rather bizarre and nasty column written by a Father Brendan Lee (The Border Mail, December 19). It's sole purpose appeared to be to denigrate Greta Thunberg and by association climate change.

The column contained so many errors of omission and commission that the writer is either very misinformed or is deliberate in his false assertions.

I would note Time magazine does not endorse a person of the year but awards it to somebody they believe has impacted the most on the world stage in news. A fairly substantial difference I would suggest. Not satisfied with this, he then associates Greta Thunberg with Stalin and Hitler.

The reference to "Chicken Little " and the hole in the ozone layer is disingenuous in the extreme. One need only to recall the amount of work that nations carried out to overcome that problem.

Population growth is a key issue behind the ecological crisis. Father Lee obviously doesn't agree with birth control, however it has been shown time and time again, once introduced, it frees women from the burden of unwanted pregnancies and in turn their societies benefit. The throwaway line in his conclusion - "and make the same mistakes socialists have made time after time" - what for goodness sake has this got to do with climate change?

Perhaps he may well benefit in reading Laudato Si the second encyclical of Pope Francis. This encyclical has the subtitle "on care for our common good". In it the Pope critiques consumerism and irresponsible developments, laments environmental degradation and global warming, and calls on all people of the world to take "swift and unified global action".

It would appear that Greta Thunberg is following "Christ's Vicar on Earth" more faithfully than Father Lee, a local Catholic priest.

In conclusion I find it very strange that Father Lee would write such a column, just days before the celebration of the Christ child.