Pope's climate change encyclical tells rich nations: pay your debt to the poor

[umbertino]

Pontiff’s 180-page intervention in climate change debate casts blame for ‘ecological crisis’ on the indifference of the powerful

 

 

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Vatican City

 

Thursday 18 June 2015 14.28 BST

 

 

 

Pope Francis has called on the world’s rich nations to begin paying their “grave social debt” to the poor and take concrete steps on climate change, saying failure to do so presents an undeniable risk to a “common home” that is beginning to resemble a “pile of filth”.

 

The pope’s 180-page encyclical on the environment, released on Thursday, is at its core a moral call for action on phasing out the use of fossil fuels.

 

But it is also a document infused with an activist anger and concern for the poor, casting blame on the indifference of the powerful in the face of certain evidence that humanity is at risk following 200 years of misuse of resources.

 

Up to now, he says, the world has accepted a “cheerful recklessness” in its approach to the issue, lacking the will to change habits for the good of the Earth.

 

“Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods,” the papal statement says. “It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.”

 

The encyclical, which can now be considered the church’s official position on the environment, includes practical guidance. Pope Francis rejects “simple solutions” to climate change such as cap and trade systems, which he says give rise to harmful speculation. He also dismisses any suggestion that population increases harm to the environment and should therefore be controlled, and resists making any judgment on genetically modified foods.

 

The essay was released following months of intense speculation about how far the pontiff would delve into a scientific realm that is still considered controversial in some countries such as the US, where views on climate change are divided along political lines.

 

Cardinal Peter Turkson, the pope’s top official on social and justice issues, flatly rejected arguments by some conservative politicians in the US that the pope ought to stay out of science.

 

“Saying that a pope shouldn’t deal with science sounds strange since science is a public domain. It is a subject matter that anyone can get in to,” Turkson said at a press conference on Thursday.

 

In an apparent reference to comments by Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush, who said he did not take economic advice from the pope, Turkson said that politicians had the right to disregard Francis’s statement, but said it was wrong to do so based on the fact that the pope was not a scientist.

 

“For some time now it has been the attempt of the whole world to kind of try to de-emphasise the artificial split between religion and public life … as if religion plays no role,” he said. Then, quoting an earlier pope, he said the best position was to “encourage dialogue between faith and reason”.

 

“Reason does have blind spots, but at the same time, reason can also challenge religion to become practical,” he said.

 

Francis, who was elected in 2013 and has put social justice and reform of the church at the heart of his papacy, said on Thursday that his text should not be read as a “green” manifesto, but instead as a “social” teaching.

 

“The foreign debt of poor countries has become a way of controlling them, yet this is not the case where ecological debt is concerned,” Francis wrote. “In different ways, developing countries, where the most important reserves of the biosphere are found, continue to fuel the development of richer countries at the cost of their own present and future.

 

“The developed countries ought to help pay this debt by significantly limiting their consumption of non-renewable energy and by assisting poorer countries to support policies and programmes of sustainable development.” The question now is whether the pope’s sweeping statement will shake-up climate talks.

 

Turkson said on Thursday that the pope considered it imperative that “practical proposals not be developed in an ideological, superficial or reductionist way”.

 

“For this, dialogue is essential,” he said.

 

The release of the statement was timed with the pope’s upcoming trip to the US, where he will speak before the UN and seek to nudge climate change negotiators ahead of their December meeting in Paris. He will also speak before a joint session of the US Congress.

 

While much of the encyclical is a spiritual reflection on the biblical story of creation and humanity’s God-given role in caring for the Earth, both the statement and the presentation preceding it were infused with science, representing a rare locking of arms between the church and scientific community.

 

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, a top climate scientist and scientific adviser to the Vatican, said the impact of global warming would be “abrupt, surprising, and irreversible”, and that it would shutdown parts of the earth much in the same way that the body dies of a fever.

 

“The vital organ’s of the world’s body will collapse,” he said in opening remarks before a press conference.

 

The encyclical – a statement of papal teaching – describes an “ecological crisis” and includes a section devoted to the latest scientific findings. It argues that climate change is not just a “global problem with serious implications”, but has an impact felt disproportionately by the world’s poorest people.

 

Francis writes: “Those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms”. The failure to respond, he says, points to the loss of a “sense of responsibility for our fellow men and women upon which all civil society is founded”.

 

He calls access to safe water a “basic and universal human right” and says depriving the poor of access to water is akin to denying the right to a life.

 

The Argentinian pontiff heaps praise on efforts made by scientists to find solutions to man-made problems, and lashes out at those who intervene in the service of “finance and consumerism”.

 

“It is actually making our earth less rich and beautiful, even more limited and grey,” he says.

 

The pope did not speak at the press conference on Thursday, but earlier in the week he said he hoped his message would be received with an “open spirit”.

 

The pope has previously expressed disappointment over the lack of an effective global plan to tackle climate change. But he faces an uphill battle to convert those who doubt human influence.

 

Even among Catholics in the US, views on global warming are sharply divided along political lines. A recent survey by Pew Research showed that Catholic Republicans view the nearly universally accepted scientific facts with deep scepticism.

 

Overall, the survey found that 71% of US Catholics believe the earth is warming, and about half (47%) believe humans are the cause and that it is a serious problem.

 

But while eight in 10 Catholic Democrats say that there is solid evidence that global warming is real, only about half of Catholic Republicans agree. Far fewer – just one quarter of Catholic Republicans – believe that global warming is caused by humans.

 

The UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, said the church’s newly unveiled teaching on the environment underscored the “moral imperative for urgent action”.

 

“This clarion call should guide the world towards a strong and durable universal climate agreement in Paris at the end of this year,” she said in a statement. “Coupled with the economic imperative, the moral imperative leaves no doubt that we must act on climate change now.”

 

Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank president, agreed: “Today’s release … should serve as a stark reminder to all of us on the intrinsic link between climate change and poverty.”

 

He said the impact of climate change was most devastating for the “unacceptably high number of people living in extreme poverty”. Extreme weather events had taken the lives of more than 2.5 million people and resulted in $4tn in damages, he said.

 

“We must now seize this narrow window of opportunity and embark on ambitious actions and policies to help protect people and the environment,” he added.

 

Francis has been sending his encyclical to church officials around the world over the last few days, Federico Lombardi, the Holy See’s head of communications, said.

 

The pontiff included a personal handwritten note in his communication, ending with a plea for help: “United in the lord, and please do not forget to pray for me.”

 

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/18/popes-climate-change-encyclical-calls-on-rich-nations-to-pay-social-debt

 

 

[bigwave]

" pay your debt to the poor"

 

No way. Tell the poor to go to school and get a trade and stop being poor. 

 

Work is my best friend.

 

AND 

 

Very few had it worse than me growing up.

 

The glass is indeed "half full."

 

Peace

 

Come on RV!

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

***///

 

The illuminati-based catholic church has been raping and taking advantage of the poor for centuries.

 

They intentionally murdered millions for trying to educate themselves because the 'church' wanted to be

the only literate entity in the world in order to control the masses.....

 

They have pillaged entire societies, massacred millions, spread disease to people the world over.

 

So shut yer not-so-pious pompous papal pie-hole and go down in yer catacombs, haul out the gold YOU STOLE and give THAT back to

the people it belongs to, you self-righteous SOB's !  

[RV ME]

"Even among Catholics in the US, views on global warming are sharply divided along political lines. A recent survey by Pew Research showed that Catholic Republicans view the nearly universally accepted scientific facts with deep scepticism."

They are neither " nearly universal" nor "scientific facts". Unless of course you are a true believer.

Before paying any bill, I will need to see an itemized invoice.

[wciappetta]

What an antichrist politician this pope is. Interesting report I recently saw says a UN climatologist who sat on the UN board for climate change declares the earth is cooling not warming and he further says the UN knows it and is hiding the data from the public. So they're lying and they know it.

 

Here check it out

 

 

[DinarCash]

RV ME, let me know when you get that itemize invoice.  To funny !!!

Maybe when hell freezes over. 

[Rockymtnhi]

We hear from another idiot elite that thinks people can manage the weather and wants to charge us fees for doing so. Go pound sand.

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

***'''

 

They can "bend" weather in areas and create "events" to a certain degree with their HAARP sites....

 

7 of them...East Coast US (Maine / Tennessee), Alaska, Russia....  no joke.

 

 

.

Edited June 19, 2015 by SgtFuryUSCZ

[Whatshername]

***///

 

... shut yer not-so-pious pompous papal pie-hole...

 

 

 

:lol:    You Gals crack me up!!!

 

 

Anyone down for some commie satire?

 

 

Pope Improves Armageddon with Climate Change Prophecy

 

 

Today the Vatican released a highly anticipated Papal encyclical containing a carefully worded prediction of the imminent destruction of Earth's environment at the hands of wealthy countries and individuals. Titled "Laudato Si," ("Be Praised"), the new encyclical leaves little doubt that its author, Pope Francis, is attempting to bridge the widening gap between the boring and preachy Epistle of Jude and the still popular and hardcore Book of Revelation, while also courting a younger, progressive generation of Mother Earth worshippers by adding a cool new "Horseman of Global Warming" to the existing Doomsday scenario, bringing the total number of Horsemen of the Apocalypse to five.

 

 

 

Pope improves Armageddon with Climate Change prophecy - See more at: http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/pope-improves-armageddon-with-climate-change-prophecy-t16479.html#sthash.qN9zfRam.dpuf

[Nelg]

Those who are harping for the RCC leaders to stay out of politics need to understand, they are political!  Therefore their writings and decrees will have a spiritual flavor, but it is mostly political.  

 

They do have a right to their opinion, but it is just an opinion.  If the Muslim leaders came out with a similar statement, it would be just their opinion.  It is no different.  

 

Selective facts produce a selective decision.   

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

 

:lol:    You Gals crack me up!!!

 

 

Anyone down for some commie satire?

 

 

Pope Improves Armageddon with Climate Change Prophecy

 

 

 

 

***///

 

Typical !  Once we start to fight back, they change the game !    

 

Any chance we can sacrifice Al Gore and his ilk and buy some time...? 

[Whatshername]

Rush had some interesting comments on this...

 

The Pope Throws the Left a Curve June 18, 2015

 

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

 

RUSH: The pope, ladies and gentlemen, the pope has thrown one of the biggest curveballs at the American left I can remember.  If I'm understanding this right, if I'm reading this right, and there's only one place that I have found this.  It's in the National Journal.  And here's the headline.  I'm just setting the table for you.  I'm not gonna get into depth in this yet, but I just want you to know that it's coming.  Here's the headline:  "Pope Francis: Climate Change and Abortion are 'Interrelated.'"

 

 

So what has happened here over the past couple of days, this week there have been leaks upon leaks that there's a papal encyclical coming where the pope is gonna double down on climate change. He's going to agree with the concept that man is destroying the planet and he's going to agree with the concept that governments need to get bigger and start taxing people and that people need to give more than what they're even taxed. They need to donate until they themselves are poor in order to save the planet. 

 

And the left has just been salivating, "Oh, my!" Understand now, the left is culturally predisposed to fearing the Catholic Church, and any religion. 

 

That's why they don't like it, and in some cases they hate it.  But it's really rooted in fear.  Religion, the Catholic Church, stands for things that the left wants to obliterate.  So when the pope comes along and appears to agree with the left, say on economic matters, they get all hopeful, and they get jazzed, and they get all excited, and that's what's been going on this week.

 

And then today -- hee-hee-hee-hee -- the pope says, I'll tell you what this means, he's essentially saying, "Look, you cannot have an attitude that says we must do everything to save the planet and be pro-choice at the same time.  If you're gonna be an environmentalist wacko, if you're gonna devote yourself to saving the planet via climate change, you had better stop killing embryos."  Whoa! You've got Pelosi up until this, you got Pelosi, all the Democrats out there singing the praises of Il Papa and then he throws this at them.  It makes me wonder, it makes me curious about the -- (laughing) -- this is gonna turn 'em upside down and into knots, and it will be reported.  It just hasn't been yet.  Just in the National Journal.  

 

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

 

RUSH: Grab audio sound bite number 10.  This is exactly what I was talking about.  This is this morning in Washington on Capitol Hill.  It's Nancy Pelosi.  She did her weekly press briefing and, among other things, said...

 

 

PELOSI: (whispering) Pope Francis writes with beauty, with clarity, and with moral force.  Eh, this encyclical stands as an urgent call for government to industry and the whole community to honor the responsibility to preserve God's creation.

 

RUSH:  Uh-oh!

 

PELOSI:  This planet is God's creation and we have a moral responsibility --

 

RUSH:  Uh-oh!

 

PELOSI:  -- to preserve it. 

 

RUSH:  Uh-oh!

 

PELOSI:  And as we do so, we have to recognize the impact of climate change on the poor, and we have to further recognize the impact of solutions, uh, to reversing climate -- climate crisis solutions and their impact on the poor.

 

RUSH:  She just stepped in it.  She just stepped in it big time, and she not even aware of it yet.  That's the beauty of this.  The pope has thrown her a curveball.  If you're gonna say, "Well, the planet is God's creation, and we have a moral responsibility to preserve it," so is a human being.  You know what Pelosi has just done? She just told the evolutionists to go take a walk.  "The planet is God's creation." What does that mean?

 

Everything on the planet is God's creation. 

 

That means human beings are God's creation. 

 

 

Nancy Pelosi reserves for herself and her friends the right to willy-nilly end the life of a God-created human being in the womb.  And she argues for that right and protests for that right and demands that right.  But when it comes to "destroying the planet," you better not take one step in that direction. 

 

The pope has just said, "We must preserve God's creation," quote, Nancy Pelosi: Except where you find it in the womb, apparently. 

 

Let's now turn to Pope Francis.  National Journal: "Pope Francis: Climate Change and Abortion are Interrelated -- Key takeaways from the Vatican's encyclical on climate.  Pope Francis has unveiled an encyclical -- a rare and influential Vatican statement -- on climate change and the environment. The highly anticipated document says that global warming is real, is caused partly by human activity, and is a grave threat to humanity.

 

"The Vatican hopes it will pave the way for a strong international climate deal later this year when diplomats descend on Paris for United Nations talks. But Pope Francis wants the encyclical to be read by everyone -- and the Vatican hopes that the document will influence much more than just the Paris talks. For Pope Francis..." Look at me, folks. Look at me. "For Pope Francis, caring about the environment goes hand in hand with taking a strong stand against abortion.

 

"'Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion,' the encyclical says. 'How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties?'" (Gasp!) Il Papa goes on to say that "population control is not the answer" to climate change.  Fewer people is not the answer. 

 

Abortion is not permitted.

 

Read more... http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/06/18/the_pope_throws_the_left_a_curve

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

***///

 

Hahaha!, WHATSHERNAME ! 

 

nancy pelosi outed for the hypocracy of her ilk! 

 

If only their kind would wake up and see that their agenda is destructive,

counter-productive (literally), murderous, moronic and idiotic ....

[Geck]

Those who are harping for the RCC leaders to stay out of politics need to understand, they are political!  Therefore their writings and decrees will have a spiritual flavor, but it is mostly political.  

 

They do have a right to their opinion, but it is just an opinion.  If the Muslim leaders came out with a similar statement, it would be just their opinion.  It is no different.  

 

Selective facts produce a selective decision.

I have to agree with you 100%, Nelg.

Additionally, I contend that this encyclical would probably be as influential to most Right thinking Catholics as the Vatican's position has been on artificial birth control.

[Geck]

Oh, and don't piss off the Pope!! He's coming for yer All!!

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

***///

 

GECK...!  Hahahahaha !