I remember in 2011, there was a big drought issue in the US. Particularly hard hit was Texas, where most of the state was either under severe drought conditions or on fire. Good True Christian Governor Rick Perry (one of God's many personally chosen yet failed candidates for President) urged Texans to pray for rain. No rain came, the fires continued to burn, wells were dry, agriculture and horticulture suffered terribly, and still NO MIRACLE RAIN! Isn't God great?
It's nice seeing that the Pope is actually concerned for the well being of other people. Still, it is confirmation as much as anything that we are on our own, and can not and should not expect any help from the divine.
It's also important to note that the Pope is asking people in Tasmania to donate to his church's fire fighting cause. It's not like the Vatican Bank is cutting them a check for a few million (which they most certainly have) or auctioning off the Pope's golden throne, or sending vast quantities of airborne fire retardant, or anything of the sort. Nope, it's just "Hey, maybe you people could give us your money so that we can (maybe) use it to do something to help this problem." Or, the people could instead use their money to directly combat the problem, without the Catholic Church taking their cut of the money (which they most likely will).
God doesn't help those who help themselves. People who help themselves help themselves, and should give themselves the proper credit, instead of attributing it to magic.
But instead of relying on miracles and divine influence, the Pope is urging regular, mundane, secular solutions to a real life problem. In other words, the Pope can't even put his money where his mouth is. No one really ever expects a wildfire to be put out by any means other than those that are man-made (or to just burn itself out naturally), not even the Pope. So what good is religion if the benefits GUARANTEED to those of faith can not be relied upon at all to provide any meaningful solution to a problem?
