Pope urges young to care for planet

[shawmut]

Source: AP

LORETO, Italy - The planet risks irreversible decline from environmentally unsustainable development, Pope Benedict XVI warned Sunday, urging young Catholics to take the lead in caring for the Earth and its precious resources.

During an open-air Mass on the final day of a weekend religious youth rally that drew about 500,000 people to the town of Loreto, Italy's most important shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Benedict said the world's water supply particularly needed to be preserved and shared equitably to avoid conflicts.

The Loreto meeting organized by the Italian bishops' conference carried a strong environmental message. Participants were given biodegradable plates, recycling bags for their trash and a hand-cranked cell-phone recharger.

Benedict told the crowd, camped out under umbrellas and tents on a vast, dusty field on the Adriatic coast, that it was up to them to save the planet from development that had often ignored "nature's delicate equilibrium."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070902/ap_on_re_ca/green_pope

[frebrd]

1. It would benefit the planet...

if he stopped forbidding them to use birth control.

[Kolesar]

4. I'll take it though

I would rather have a Pope pontificating about preserving the environment. Catholics will start thinking about what energy and resources really mean and decide for themselves to have less children. It happened to me back when I was Catholic.

[BearSquirrel2]

5. Beat me to the punch...

The two positions are diametrically opposed. Humans demand the harvesting of resources and the production of even more chemicals. Stabilizing population levels is a starting point. Accepting children from god every time you have sex doesn't get us any closer to that goal.

[depakid]

2. Newsflash: "nature's delicate equilibrium."

Requires birth control...

or a much higher mortality rate... or manna from heaven.

Or perhaps all 3.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. Young urge Pope to sell all his(ours/theirs) valuables...

...or stfu!

[cd3dem]

6. what party would Jesus belong to if he were alive today?

is this not a "no brainer"? people objectify their behavior by hiding behind their religion... I am Catholic and most American Catholics practice birth control and have very different views than that of the Pope... I have stopped attending church the last few years on a number of issues... I don't think any other religion does much better...

religion has been molded to fit the male agenda... can't deal with it anymore... research is coming out that the past Bishops changed the bible to fit their objectives of subjugating women...

hell birth control is not the problem... I have more kids than my neighbor who has one... they have their trash can over flowing every week... they are good republicans... a butcher and a nurse... go figure... my trash is generally half full at most... I put out more recycle than trash...

my brother is an born-again Christian and will vote dem because for him the right to life includes the people who die from pollution and wars... people who die from inadequate insurance... and so on...

perhaps the Pope should address the life of Jesus... not the BS about gays and birth control and women being submissive...

the women in Jesus’ life were the only ones to stand by him.... and he never treated them as lessers... he walked with the poor and disadvantaged... he did not concern himself with worldly goods.... what party would Jesus belong to if he were alive today?

[noonwitch]

8. Jesus would be in neither party, because he is beyond politics

He'd tell everyone to behave themselves, stop fighting and get something done to actually do some good in the world.

[razzleberry]

7. buy Benedict-16 carbon credits, to obtain forgiveness for sins .n/t

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. And what about us old codgers?

Someone needs to remind this guy that you're never too old to learn new tricks.

[slampoet]

10. Urge the generation w/o any power to wipe up after those who spent their lives crappin' on the young

[Joe Bacon]

11. Pope Eggs Benedict needs to stop backing Republicans.

A little less bullshit, Eggy Baby, and a little more action, please.

[Ilsa]

12. He needs to encourage them to have smaller families to benefit the planet. nt

[UTUSN]

13. Does anybody listen to this man?

[defendandprotect]

14. "Manifest Destiny" and "Man's Dominion Over Nature" are crap and should be canned ---

Simply organized patriarchal religion's license to the few to exploit nature, natural resources, animal-life -- and even other human beings according to various myths of inferiority.

How does any thinking person embrace such religion????