I am giving this post a papal
touch. I have been wondering what religion is doing as far as current environmental
issues are concern. I went snooping round to find out the activities of the
papacy in this regard. What follows is what I got:
The
United Nations and Vatican joined forces Tuesday (April 28, 2015) to warn about
the dire effects of climate change, gathering religious leaders, Nobel
laureates and heads of state to present a united front ahead of make-or-break
environment talks later this year in Paris.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon discussed climate
change with the pope before opening a one-day conference of scientists and
religious leaders called "The Moral Dimensions of Climate Change and
Sustainable Development".
The pope, who is due to make a major address on
sustainable development at the United Nations in September, has said he
believes man is primarily responsible for climate change and is writing an encyclical
on the environment.
Opening the
conference of some 60 scientists, religious leaders and diplomats hosted by the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Ban urged industrialized countries to invest in
clean energy and reduce their carbon footprints.
"Mitigating climate change and adapting to its
effects are necessary to eradicate extreme poverty, reduce inequality and
secure equitable, sustainable economic development," he said.
The gathering's
joint declaration said "human-induced climate change is a scientific
reality, and its decisive control is a moral imperative for all of
humanity".
U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised Pope Francis for framing the need to
combat global warming as an urgent moral imperative, saying his upcoming
encyclical provided an "unprecedented opportunity" to create a more
sustainable future for the planet.
The conference
is a key part of the Holy See's rollout of Francis' eagerly awaited encyclical,
which is expected in June. While popes past have all taken strong stands in favor
of environmental protection, Francis will be the first to address climate
change in a pontiff's most authoritative teaching document.
The
conference gathered Francis' key environmental advisers, the presidents of
Italy and Ecuador, religious leaders from different faiths, Nobel laureates and
respected climate change scientists. They were unanimous in agreeing that
climate change is real, it's mostly human-induced, the poorest suffer the most
from it and collective action is needed to stop it.
Francis'
encyclical "will convey to the world that protecting our environment is an
urgent moral imperative and a sacred duty for all people of faith and people of
conscience," Ban said.
The
encyclical has generated more excitement and anxiety than any papal document in
recent times: Environmentalists are thrilled that Francis will be lending his
voice to the conservation cause, while climate skeptics have argued that a pope
has no business getting involved in the debate.
But Ban
said that while neither he nor the pope is a scientist, "what is important
is ... to mobilize the will of the people and to lead the people."
An encyclical
was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a
particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be
used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from Latin encyclicus (from the Greek ἐν κύκλῳ en kykloi) meaning
"general" or "encircling", which is also the origin of the
word "encyclopedia".
For the modern Catholic Church a Papal encyclical, in the strictest
sense, is a letter, usually treating some aspect of Catholic doctrine, sent by
the Pope and addressed either to the Catholic bishops of aparticular area or, more normally, to the bishops of the world; however, the form of the address can vary widely, and often designates a wider audience.
Within Catholicism in recent times, an encyclical is generally used
for significant issues, and is second in importance only to the highest ranking
document now issued by popes, an Apostolic
Constitution.
Francis
has said he hopes the encyclical will help influence climate change talks in
Paris in December.
Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, one of
Francis' key advisers, stressed that the document won't delve into the science
of global warming, but rather focus on pastoral issues created by it.
"The
Bible tells us that Adam was commanded to serve and preserve the Earth, but
we're clearly not doing that," said Dr. Peter Raven, a leading authority
on evolution and a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which hosted
the event.
Chemist
Paul Crutzen of the Netherlands, who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize for chemistry
for work on the ozone layer, showed a series of slides detailing concentrations
of pollution in the atmosphere from man-made activities.
"This
is something I would like to present to the skeptics who say that human
impact" has had no role in the warming of the earth, he said.
Jeffrey Sachs, Colombia University professor and director
of the U.N. Sustainable Solutions Network, told reporters companies that invest
in fossil fuels stand to lose money.
"Everybody needs to understand that policies are
going to change to make it unprofitable if you wreck the planet," he said.
"Those companies that continue exploring and developing fossil fuel
resources for which there is no safe use are going to pay a very heavy cost for
that"
The Heartland Institute, a Chicago think tank that says
climate change is not human-induced, sent a delegation to Rome to contest the
premise of the conference.
Heartland member Christopher Monckton of Britain, told
reporters that the pope "should listen to both sides of the scientific
argument ... not only people of one, narrow, poisonous political and scientific
viewpoint".
The skeptical Chicago-based Heartland
Institute urged the pope not to lend his moral authority to the U.N.'s climate
agenda and warning that he would just be confusing Catholics by writing an encyclical
about it.
Cardinal
Peter Turkson, whose office wrote the first draft of the document, disagreed.
"What
is his ministry?" Turkson asked. "His ministry is about the salvation
of people, which begins right here on Earth."
The
pope as the head of the Catholic Church has a following of one point two
billion (1.2 bn.) members, therefore what he says or does has weight.
Add
your voice to his (Pope Francis) in fighting climate change, no matter where
you are, and how small your contribution is.
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