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Pope Francis To Issue Encyclical On Global Warming
HughPickens.com writes The Guardian reports that following a visit in March to Tacloban, the Philippine city devastated in 2012 by typhoon Haiyan, Pope Francis plans to publish a rare encyclical on climate change and human ecology urging all Catholics to take action on moral and scientific grounds. "A papal encyclical is rare," says Bishop Marcelo Sorondo, chancellor of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences who revealed the pope's plans when he delivered Cafod's annual Pope Paul VI lecture. "It is among the highest levels of a pope's authority. It will be 50 to 60 pages long; it's a big deal." The encyclical will be sent to the world's 5,000 Catholic bishops and 400,000 priests, who will distribute it to parishioners. 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. "Just as humanity confronted revolutionary change in the 19th century at the time of industrialization, today we have changed the natural environment so much," says Sorondo. "If current trends continue, the century will witness unprecedented climate change and destruction of the ecosystem with tragic consequences."
Francis's environmental radicalism is likely to attract resistance from Vatican conservatives and in rightwing church circles, particularly in the US – where Catholic climate sceptics also include John Boehner, Republican leader of the House of Representatives and Rick Santorum, the former Republican presidential candidate. "There will always be 5-10% of people who will take offence. They are very vocal and have political clout," says Dan Misleh, director of the Catholic climate covenant. "This encyclical will threaten some people and bring joy to others. The arguments are around economics and science rather than morality." Francis will also be opposed by the powerful US evangelical movement, says Calvin Beisner, spokesman for the conservative Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, which has declared the US environmental movement to be "un-biblical" and a false religion. "The pope should back off," says Beisner. "The Catholic church is correct on the ethical principles but has been misled on the science. It follows that the policies the Vatican is promoting are incorrect. Our position reflects the views of millions of evangelical Christians in the US."
Francis's environmental radicalism is likely to attract resistance from Vatican conservatives and in rightwing church circles, particularly in the US – where Catholic climate sceptics also include John Boehner, Republican leader of the House of Representatives and Rick Santorum, the former Republican presidential candidate. "There will always be 5-10% of people who will take offence. They are very vocal and have political clout," says Dan Misleh, director of the Catholic climate covenant. "This encyclical will threaten some people and bring joy to others. The arguments are around economics and science rather than morality." Francis will also be opposed by the powerful US evangelical movement, says Calvin Beisner, spokesman for the conservative Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, which has declared the US environmental movement to be "un-biblical" and a false religion. "The pope should back off," says Beisner. "The Catholic church is correct on the ethical principles but has been misled on the science. It follows that the policies the Vatican is promoting are incorrect. Our position reflects the views of millions of evangelical Christians in the US."
This Pope is the best one we've had in MANY years! He seems genuinely concerned for the average person, and seems to apply the standards Jesus used, which is precisely what a pope should do!
May God bless him!
And may people who stubbornly believe it's OK to screw up the environment be sent to a very warm place, where there won't be any climate change, ever.
Apparently listening to the world's scientists and acknowledging reality is now a "radical position".
Pretending that all is well with the climate, and that our only problem is that our entire scientific community is delusional, OTOH -- that's the reasonable and moderate position.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Ha, haha, hahahaha.
Well this atheist wishes you both irrelevance, though if he's going to be relevant I'd prefer his brand.
On a side note why is it whenever I read posts like the above, when I click on them, I can be absolutely certain the poster is none other than Mr AC.
As an atheist, I have to say that I respect this Pope for trying to drag the church, with many kicking and screaming, into the 21st century.
And not just the church - look what he did to help the US and Cuba. A year ago that wasn't even on the radar.
I wonder what else he has up his sleeve.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
-1 Downvote for quoting the Daily Mail on anything.
The leader of one very large religion joining forces with the very large religion of MMGW.
All MMGW religion is "settled science" with no need for the denying heretics to be heard
Facts be damned! - we "believe" in MMGW!
Belief has nothing to do with it. Belief implies taking something on faith, even in the absence of facts. The facts supporting the theory of MMGW are quite clear. Reason, not faith, dictates that this theory be given greater weight that those being put forth by those who benefit from ignoring the problem. I suspect that the Pope's message will be that, as the Xtian god has charged humanity with being stewards of their world, a carefully reasoned course of action is called for.
I *believe* you have that backwards. The evidence supports MMGW, you *believe* that to be a myth. If you have any facts by all means share them. I suspect what you have are some number of people whose specialty is not climatology saying they don't believe in MMGW.
This Catholic will tell him to get bent. The contents of an encyclical are not considered infallable.
So accept the science instead doofus. Why are you here, anyways?
Idiot. Pope Frank doesn't represent you. He represent GOD. You think Catholicism is a democracy?
...and is an atheist of long standing, what Pope Francis has tried to do has only revealed how morally bankrupt the RC church really is that it spends time and effort trying to embrace science, even when that science is disputed by scientists, because its a "moral imperative". We've already heard from some preposterous stuff from deep-green environmentalists (aka back to the wonderful Stone Age world of peace with Mother Earth) that AGW is a moral imperative, and sure enough, religious people are trying to join as well.
I am old enough to mistrust any politician or religionist who talks about anything as a "moral imperative" because it usually implies mob justice and the crushing of civil liberties. Look at the history of the World. Look at ISIS right now whose highest priority is the moral imperative of submission to Islam. Tell me I'm wrong.
Personally I think that the Pope should spend his time cleaning out the stables before inviting people to see his horses. He could start by rescinding the preposterous policies on contraception created by Pope Paul VI in the 1960s, toning down the opposition to abortion to a rational policy, and letting priests marry and letting divorced people remarry. Because the stench of hypocricy and unjust policies is much stronger than the Vatican's entire supply of incense to conceal.
But what do I know? I'm just a poster on Slashdot.
Tubby or not tubby. Fat is the question
The temperature has NOT risen since 1998. Fact.
That "fact" hasn't been true for years. Cherry picking 1998 worked for a while, because it was an unusual year, but not keeping up and picking a new cherry makes you look stupid. 2005 and 2010 were both warmer than 1998 and if you bother to look a the data, you'll see the upward trend is clear.
Climate change might be a non-issue, but ignoring the facts doesn't help make that decision. Is there a reason you want to stick to a false fact so hard? A lot of conservatives seem to think the only solution to climate change is communism, so they resist the facts at all costs. This is silly. The free market is the best way to solve this problem. We just need to figure out where there are externalized costs and fix that. We need conservatives to get on board and help make the right choices instead of covering their ears and saying "No, no, no, no, no no!"
You do know that there's PLENTY of scientific evidence out there which ISN'T funded by big oil refuting the ridiculous notion that carbon-dioxide is pollution?
What I particularly liked about your post is the large number of sources you included to support the above statement.
Never thought I would see the day when the head of the the Catholic church represents a beacon of scientific rationalism dragging the rest of the first world into the modern era.
First of all, "scientific evidence" doesn't show whether or not something is or is not "pollution". "Pollution" is a term of judgement.
The science shows that increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can change the climate. There are not "PLENTY" of scientists who disagree with that.
You are welcome on my lawn.
...boggles the mind. I mean, this is a tech website, you'd expect people here to be on average more intelligent or at least to have a better scientific culture than the average. And yet, whenever there's an article about climate change, there's always a bunch of morons spouting completely ignorant statements defeated by 10 seconds of googling. Where do all these people come from?
Someone has to look out for the Christians of the world.
Hint: Jesus was against Pharisees and Money Lenders. If you think he said for you to get rich and destroy the world, you're reading the wrong bible.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Much of Christ's life was closer communism than to capitalism. Remember the loaves and fishes story? He didn't charge people for food. He didn't charge people to listen to him speak, he didn't charge people to cure them. Blessed are the poor of this world, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God...gee, Francis must be a communist!
We are supposed to share with our fellow man, not have the rich trickle down money to them.
We also aren't supposed to kill others, but turn the other cheek...but that doesn't have anything to do with capitalism or communism.
All that said, I rarely go to church, so I'll probably go to hell anyway, but I do cheer on this pope!
So what you're saying is "because lots of the power we have available now is produced by burning coal, we shouldn't try to produce power in the future by doing something else"?
I mean, of course the wind turbines get produced by burning coal - that's so that future wind turbines will be produced by drawing electricity from a grid powered by wind turbines (and tidal power stations, and hydro plants, and solar plants, and nuclear, and ...)
I remain mystified by how such a sane and decent person has risen so high within a large institution.
Have you heard of this guy Paul who wrote most of the new testament? He said: "For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."" (Galatians 5:14)
Some of your neighbors are gay. Paul ordered you to treat *all* your neighbors with love, and so did Jesus. Pope Francis is just following orders. If the Bible is your authority on truth, you should too.
Conservative Christians/Catholics grossly misunderstand their Biblical history. Compared to the conservative Jewish tradition of his day, Jesus was a FLAMING liberal. Eating with sinners and tax collectors! Breaking the law when it doesn't make sense! Forgiving sinners that were caught red-handed! These are part of why everyone was so pissed off at him: he was too liberal.
Conservative Christianity has been infected by hatred, judgmentalism, self-righteous pride, and disgusting selfishness. And you, Mr AC, are a fine example of exactly this.
You seriously need to have a heart-to-heart with your God before it is too late.
If a US politician advocates for Israel does this mean they are allied to a foreign power? If a US politician takes campaign contributions from a multi-national corporation does that mean they are violating the foreign immoluments clause of the US Constitution?
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Funny thing about atheism - it matters not one whit to compassion. That the Pope's position should should overlap says good things about Pope - too long has Catholicism pandered to kings while neglecting the common people it claims to shepherd.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
You hypocrites are always making fun of religion, and calling catholics pedophiles and faggots.
That's bullshit and you know it ...
We would never call catholics 'faggots'.
Look where all this talking got us, baby.
For many years the Catholic Church has maintained that global warming is a real problem and that people should act accordingly, -as stewards of God's earth. Pope Francis has taken it a step farther but it's not a sudden change in position.
I was raised Catholic but no longer consider myself one. I still have a fascination for the Church's history and how it functions. I also share some of its values. To those that consider it an ultra-conservative organization, that's only partially true. It often isn't, at least not in the US political sense of the word "conservative". It's also a very large organization that exists within many countries and cultures. Though there is only one set of beliefs and teachings, the emphasis placed on those different teachings varies from place to place. For example, many Catholics in the US practice birth control even though the official teaching of the Church is that it's a sin (aside from "Natural Family Planning"). Few US priests (at least in my part of the country) are going to attempt to lecture their congregations on it.
So even though the Pope has put more teeth behind the Church's official stance on global warming, that doesn't mean that Catholic climate change skeptics are going to suddenly tow the party line. It will hopefully mean that the larger organization will make funds available to its churches to make them "greener" but I doubt it. Money tends to flow only in one direction within the Church.
Francis's environmental radicalism is likely to attract resistance from Vatican conservatives and in rightwing church circles...
Isn't it strange that accepting what for all practical purposes must be called the scientific consensus is described as 'radical'? And stop calling deniers 'conservative' - a conservative is somebody who, after giving the matter some thought, feels that the old ways are best - whereas the deniers are people that refuse to apply their intellect at all, if there is a risk they might have to change their minds. I have a lot of respect for conservatives; rather less for deniers.
Coal is used to refine raw iron ore into iron or steel because the ore consists to a huge percentage of OXYGEN! ... which is mainly done with electricity.
So you need coal to reduce the iron ore to iron, and for that you basically can only use coal: not gas nor oil.
However the majority of steel production is recycling of existing steel
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.