Vatican Basilica Switches Lights Off for ‘Earth Hour’ to Protest Climate Change
Pope Francis adviser calls on Florida pols to address ‘climate change’
http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article61522002.html
MIAMI — Florida politicians have a duty to address the perils of climate change even if they don’t believe humans are hastening its grave consequences, Pope Francis’ chief adviser on climate change said in an interview with the Miami Herald before addressing a weekend conference on climate, nature and society at St. Thomas University law school.
Cardinal Peter Turkson said: “Anybody running for public office who sees the life of the people affected by climate-related disasters” needs to act.
That, he said, includes the state’s two Republican presidential contenders — former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio — who remain skeptical of the science tying climate change to increased carbon emissions.
“You’ll not be shocked by this,” Turkson added. “I also know of a cardinal or two who don’t believe.”
Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article61522002.html#storylink=cpy…
Leonardo DiCaprio Meets With Pope Francis On ‘Need for Immediate Action on Climate Change’
Pope Francis met today during a private audience in Vatican City with actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio. Their conversation focused on how they can work together to address the immediate need for major action to stop the devastating impacts of climate changefrom leaving permanent scars on our planet.
His Holiness sees great urgency in climate change, and has made impassioned pleas before the world community about the threat it poses to our environment, and to the future of human kind. Speaking before a gathering the United Nations General Assembly last September, Pope Francis made this link explicitly clear—any harm done to our environment is harm done to humanity.
The meeting, coming shortly after it was announced that 2015 was officially the hottest year ever recorded, was an opportunity for His Holiness and DiCaprio to specifically identify ways they can inspire and motivate people across the globe to commit to upholding their moral and ethical responsibilities to protect our planet.
Pope Francis and DiCaprio are leading voices in the cause to protect our only home for future generations. Speaking before concerned citizens and leaders of all levels, they have highlighted that this crisis will overwhelmingly impact the poorest and most vulnerable communities of people on earth, making this fight one of fairness, equality and justice.…
Claim: Pope Francis Part of Amicus Brief Filed in Support of Teen’s Landmark Climate Change Lawsuit
On Friday, the Center for Earth Jurisprudence, on behalf of the Global Catholic Climate Movement and the Leadership Council of Women Religious filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the constitutional climate change lawsuit brought by 21 young plaintiffs from across America.
The Catholic groups filed their brief promptly after Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin of the federal District Court in Oregon granted defendant status to three trade associations, representing nearly all of the world’s fossil fuel companies. The Catholic groups filed the brief to make their views known that the youth’s legal claims are rooted in U.S. traditions and parallel Roman Catholic tenets.
“As an organization inspired by the principles of Laudato Si’, the Global Catholic Climate Movement welcomes the opportunity to support the young plaintiffs,” Tomas Insua, Global Coordinator with the Global Catholic Climate Movement, said. “Laudato Si’ reminds us that ‘Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us.’ By supporting this initiative, we join our voices with the young plaintiffs who are calling for climate justice and the protection of the atmosphere for generations to come.”…
Flashback: Fox’s Andrew Napolitano: Pope Francis is ‘somewhere between a communist with a lowercase ‘c’ and a Marxist with an uppercase ‘M’
http://mediamatters.org/video/2015/09/15/foxs-andrew-napolitano-calls-pope-francis-a-com/205560
Fox’s Andrew Napolitano: Pope Francis Is A “Communist” And A “Marxist.” On the September 15 edition of Fox Business’ Varney & Co., Fox’s senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano called Pope Francis a “communist” and a “Marxist” for linking the Syrian refugee crisis to global poverty:
…ANDREW NAPOLITANO: I am sighing because the Holy Father is a challenge for traditionalist Roman Catholics, of which I am one. Particularly, traditionalists who came of age under John Paul II and then under Benedict XVI. Who, though they had impulses that were not exactly Ayn Rand on capitalism, were far more into philosophy and theology, and far less into the economy … This particular Pope, who has proclaimed himself a Peronist, is somewhere between a communist with a lowercase “c” and a Marxist with an uppercase “M.” At the same time he is trying to be a Roman Catholic — uppercase “R,” uppercase “C.”
[…]
The Pope is infallible on faith in morals. Thank God it is just limited to faith and morals because he is, he is — he sounds like a left-wing professor at the London School of Economics when he blames the mass migration on economic inequality. [Fox Business, Varney & Co.,9/15/15]
Vatican bishop: Pope’s view on ‘global warming’ is as authoritative as the condemnation of abortion
A heated exchange regarding global warming and magisterial teaching between a top Vatican official and various other presenters ended a December 3 Acton Institute conference in Rome. Argentinean Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, a close advisor to Pope Francis and the Chancellor of both the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences stressed that the pope’s declarations on the gravity of global warming as expressed in the encyclical Laudato Si’ are magisterial teaching equivalent to the teaching that abortion is sinful.
Father Joseph Fessio, SJ, the founder of Ignatius Press who obtained his doctorate in theology under Joseph Ratzinger prior to his elevation to the pontificate, told LifeSiteNews, “Neither the pope nor Bishop Sorondo can speak on a matter of science with any binding authority, so to use the word ‘magisterium’ in both cases is equivocal at best, and ignorant in any case.” Fr. Fessio added, “To equate a papal position on abortion with a position on global warming is worse than wrong; it is an embarrassment for the Church.”
The conference, “In Dialogue with Laudato Si’: Can Free Markets Help Us Care for Our Common Home?” was held at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross with over 200 attendees including members of the media, professors, and students of the Pontifical Universities.
The controversy was sparked when in his address Bishop Sorondo spoke of “global warming” saying that in Laudato Si “for the first time in the Magisterium” Pope Francis “denounces the scientifically identifiable causes of this evil, declaring that: ‘a number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases released mainly as a result of human activity.’” He repeated the point later, saying, “faith and reason, philosophical knowledge and scientific knowledge, are brought together for the first time in the pontifical Magisterium in Laudato Si’.”
These points were contradicted in the presentation by Acton Institute founder and President Father Robert Sirico who said it is “important to underscore the distinction between the theological dimension of Laudato si’ and its empirical, scientific, and economic claims.” He explained, “The Church does not claim to speak with the same authority on matters of economics and science… as it does when pronouncing on matters of faith and morals.”
Quoting the Compendium of Catholic Social Doctrine to support his point, Fr. Sirico said: “Christ did not bequeath …
Climate Statistician Dr. Matt Briggs: ‘The Pope Is Wrong About Global Warming’
…Pope: World headed toward ‘suicide’ if no UN climate agreement
…Pope, in Africa, lobbies on behalf of UN – Says failure of UN climate summit would be ‘catastrophic’
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/11/26/uk-pope-africa-idUKKBN0TF0HI20151126
World leaders must reach a historic agreement to fight climate change and poverty at coming Paris, facing the stark choice to either “improve or destroy the environment”, Pope Francis said in Africa on Thursday.
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“We are confronted with a choice which cannot be ignored: either to improve or destroy the environment,” the pope said in Nairobi, home to the U.N. Environment Programme headquarters.
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He said the international community had to listen to the “cry rising up from humanity and the earth itself.”…
World facing ‘grave environmental crisis’, pope warns
The pontiff also drew a “clear link” between climate concerns and social justice.
“In effect, there is a clear link between the protection of nature and the building of a just and equitable social order,” he said. “There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature, without a renewal of humanity itself.”…