From the UK's Independent:
The Pope is expected to use his first address to the United Nations to deliver a powerful warning over climate change in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a "moral" cause for the Catholic Church and its billion-strong following. The New York speech is likely to contain an appeal for sustainable development, and it will follow an unprecedented Encyclical (a message to the wider church) on the subject, senior diplomatic sources have told The Independent. It will act as the centrepiece of a US visit scheduled for next April - the first by Benedict XVI, and the first Papal visit since 1999 - and round off an environmental blitz at the Vatican, in which the Pope has personally led moves to emphasise green issues based on the belief that climate change is affecting the poorest people on the planet, and the principle that believers have a duty to "protect creation".
The Independent article attributes the Pope's recent focus on the environment as in part due to the behind-the-scenes work of UK diplomats.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
PZ Myers is upset - and rightly so - at something that Pope Benedict XVI said in a speech he gave at Wednesday's General Audience. The Pope, while speaking on the topic of environmentalism, suggested that disrespect for the environment stems from disbelief in God:
Is it not true that…
IRONY OVERLOAD! The pope opened his mouth again.
Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.
You've got to wonder — does the pope think this is a…
We all know the Catholic Church has a serious public relations problem right now — they're hidebound, they're insensitive to the human needs of their congregations, and, well, sheltering an evil bunch of child-rapers that they shuttle about among unknowing parishes like a buggerymobile or a penis-…
Pew has released an in depth analysis of news coverage of the Pope's U.S. visit. As I have posted previously, some media critics have claimed that the press gave the Pontiff a pass on hard-hitting questions while polls show that the Pope's visit was a major public relations success.
As the Pew…
Now we just need genuinely moral messages from the Great Queen Spider's white-haired little playmate on abortion, gay rights, stem cell research, therapeutic cloning, extra-marital sex, the use of condoms in the fight against AIDS (and for contraception if it comes to that), and the imperative to shrink the global population (which can only be done by widespread use of modern contraception). Then there's all the other issues about emerging technologies where some progressive stances would be good, though hardly expected. An unequivocal acceptance of evolutionary theory, without the current caveats about human exceptionalism would also be helpful.
The Great Queen Spider Cult can make as many soothing noises about environmental issues as it wants, but it doesn't change the fact this is a cult of misery and guilt that the world would be better off without.