Pope Francis’s edict on climate change will anger deniers and US churches

[Eugene]

Source: The Observer

Pope Francis’s edict on climate change will anger deniers and US churches

John Vidal
The Observer, Saturday 27 December 2014 21.06 GMT

He has been called the “superman pope”, and it would be hard to deny that Pope Francis has had a good December. Cited by President Barack Obama as a key player in the thawing relations between the US and Cuba, the Argentinian pontiff followed that by lecturing his cardinals on the need to clean up Vatican politics. But can Francis achieve a feat that has so far eluded secular powers and inspire decisive action on climate change?

It looks as if he will give it a go. In 2015, the pope will issue a lengthy message on the subject to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, give an address to the UN general assembly and call a summit of the world’s main religions.

The reason for such frenetic activity, says Bishop Marcelo Sorondo, chancellor of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences, is the pope’s wish to directly influence next year’s crucial UN climate meeting in Paris, when countries will try to conclude 20 years of fraught negotiations with a universal commitment to reduce emissions.

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Following a visit in March to Tacloban, the Philippine city devastated in 2012 by typhoon Haiyan, the pope will publish a rare encyclical on climate change and human ecology. Urging all Catholics to take action on moral and scientific grounds, the document will be sent to the world’s 5,000 Catholic bishops and 400,000 priests, who will distribute it to parishioners.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/27/pope-francis-edict-climate-change-us-rightwing

[villager]

1. I sure as hell hope he has a taster for his evening tea...

n/t

[cilla4progress]

2. Not a Catholic.

LOVE this Pope. HE embodies the message of Jesus.

[silverweb]

3. Amen to that!

[GliderGuider]

6. Same here. I'm a lifelong atheist, and Papa Frankie is blowing me away!

Add to his list of December accomplishments the speech in which he called the entire Curia a bunch of materialistic, power-obsessed schmucks!

This announcement has gone a long way towards lifting the pall of cynicism I've been labouring under for the last decade. This at least answers my objection that there was no single person alive who had the desire, power and freedom to shift the global conversation on climate change.

[silverweb]

7. "Papa Frankie" ...

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I love it!

Totally agree about him helping lift "the pall of cynicism," since I've been oppressed by that, too.

[procon]

4. Is an encyclical letter considered like a BFD?

I don't have any reference point to go by, but if his message is going out to all Catholics, this seems like an important event. Will this mean that Catholics will be persuaded to trade in their denial views and embrace the left's "radical" environmentalism?

More power to 'em, I says, maybe he'll have better luck than them what's already tried.

[caraher]

5. Encyclicals are pretty big deals

Papal encyclicals are "generally used for significant issues, and (are) second in importance only to the highest ranking document now issued by popes, an Apostolic Constitution."

Encyclicals indicate high Papal priority for an issue at a given time. Pontiffs define when, and under which circumstances, encyclicals should be issued. They may choose to issue an apostolic constitution, bull, encyclical, apostolic letter or give a papal speech.

So basically Francis seems to be planning a very strong statement...

[Finishline42]

8. More than a statement is needed - he needs to put some of those found Euros into solar

More than a statement is needed - he needs to put some of those found Euros into solar for each church and parish. He could direct Vatican investment into wind farms and donate a portion of the electricity generated to the needy.

I live in a fairly good sized Catholic community - churches that have been around for over a 100 years - each with a K-8 school. Just think how much of their tuition and donations could be put to better use 10 years down the road (about how long it takes for solar PV to break even) than to just keep paying the utilities?

[Ferd Berfel]

9. Solar panals on Vatacn buildings

would be screaming from the mountain tops!

Then on Churches globally

But first let's end the tax exempt status

[cprise]

10. Not sure if solar arrays are big enough fig leaf

to cover the church's overpopulation and reproductive rights issues -- the ones Francis is avoiding and is causing big losses for the church in Latin America.

[Ferd Berfel]

11. Agree but

If Barry can be pushing the secret corporate take over of America (TPP) and, force us all into the hands of the health insurance corporations (and lie to us for 6 months that he supported single payer), and still be thought of as a great democrat (even a liberal) then the pope gets one for climate change and another if he puts solar panels on the Vatican.