Blessed are the Diamond Makers

(idexonline.com) - 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.