Reuters: Pope urges world leaders to do more to tackle climate change

[OKIsItJustMe]

Pope urges world leaders to do more to tackle climate change

Reuters
July 23, 2023 6:55 AM EDT

VATICAN CITY, July 23 (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Sunday that recent heat waves across many parts of the world and flooding in countries such as South Korea showed that more urgent action was needed to tackle climate change.

"Please, I renew my appeal to world leaders to do something more concrete to limit polluting emissions," the Pope said at the end of his Angelus message to crowds in St. Peter's Square.

"It is an urgent challenge, it cannot be postponed, it concerns everyone. Let us protect our common home," the pope added.

Francis has called on the world to rapidly ditch fossil fuels and made the protection of the environment a cornerstone of his pontificate. He noted in his landmark 2015 "Laudato Si" (Praised Be) encyclical that the planet was "beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth".

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Looks like the Pope didn’t get the memo…
Reuters: UK's Gove warns against making tackling climate change 'religious crusade'

[Bayard]

1. Whoever thought they'd hear that sentence?

But, should have said it 30 years ago.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. To be fair

He's only been the Pope for 10 years, and, he has made Climate Change a priority.

How 10 Years of Pope Francis Has Changed Climate Action

BY ARYN BAKER MARCH 15, 2023 2:35 PM EDT

It was clear from day one that Pope Francis was going to shake things up in the climate world. On March 13, 2013, the newly elected Pope, then Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, took the name Francis, after the 13th century saint of Assisi. Upon hearing the voice of Jesus instructing him to repair a collapsing chapel, St. Francis revitalized chapel and the Catholic Church while celebrating the natural world. It was like the new pope “heard the same message,” says Father Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam, coordinator of the ecology and creation department at the Vatican’s ministry for promoting integral human development. “It was ‘Francis, Go and repair my house, which is falling into ruin.’ And it’s not just the church, but planet earth, which as we know, is in a very bad state.”

The Pope’s reign, now entering its 10th year, carries a mixed legacy—celebrated for his efforts to protect refugees and broaden the Church’s reach, marred by finance scandals and sexual assault cover-up controversies (his 2022 apology for the physical and sexual abuse of Indigenous children in Canada’s Catholic-run boarding schools was deemed by many activists as too little and too late). But from a climate perspective, his efforts to repair the house of planet earth may be his most enduring. He has dedicated much of his papacy to raising awareness of climate change and how it impacts the world’s people, and he frequently urges care for the planet in his teachings.

What started as a quasi-mystical nod to St. Francis, patron saint of ecology and animals, quickly morphed into a well-constructed strategy to bring the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics into alignment over humanity’s role in causing climate change.

On June 18, 2015, he published Laudato Si’: On Care For Our Common Home, a landmark encyclical, or pastoral letter, to the entire Catholic congregation. The 184-page document lamented environmental degradation and global warming, critiqued consumerism and irresponsible development, and warned of “serious consequences for all of us” if current trends continued. The timing of the encyclical, released six months ahead of the pivotal U.N. climate conference in Paris, was calculated, according to Kureethadam, with a goal of convincing world leaders to set clear targets to limit global warming.

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[OKIsItJustMe]

5. If you know any Roman Catholics who are "skeptics," tell them the Pope wants them to help!

Laudato Si’ Movement

Laudato Si’ Movement was born in 2015 and is the fruit of a kairos – the Greek word used in the Gospel to express “an opportune moment.” The kairos of 2015 was the combination of two transformative events that would shape how the Church and humanity responded to the ecological crisis: the Laudato Si’ encyclical release and the Paris Climate Agreement.

First, Pope Francis wrote and released the encyclical letter “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home,” the first-ever papal encyclical devoted to the crisis of our planetary home. Inspired by his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi and his deep communion with all Creation (best captured in the Canticle of the Creatures that inspired the encyclical’s title), the Pope issued a powerful appeal to the Church and “all people of good will” to urgently come together and respond to “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

Second, with the backdrop of increasingly starker warnings from the scientific community about the severity of the climate emergency, leaders from nearly 200 nations gathered at the U.N. Paris Climate Summit (COP21) to agree and sign the Paris Agreement. After 21 years of failed negotiations, nations of the world had a deadline to finally agree on a common plan that would tackle the climate crisis before it was too late.

[Think. Again.]

6. You're right...

I apologize to his holiness.

I guess I'm just frustrated that almost all of the people who could be having a major influence on the progress we need to make, seem to always be just telling us about it, and barely actually doing anything.

There are soooo many little actions that would add up to some serious momentum toward reducing CO2. The pope could suggest that extra-magic heaven points would be given to folks (only catholics of course) who cut their gasoline use by 25% or something, but no, he just talks about how other world leaders need to do some unmentioned thing.

Basically, I feel that WE are not doing enough, and by that I mean everyone, as a group, humanity, popes included.

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. Among other little things...

He has urged Roman Catholics (and Roman Catholic organizations) to divest from fossil fuels.

Divesting from fossil fuels

Frankly, you gotta hand it to Francis. He’s done more than most “World Leaders” when it comes to combatting climate change.

[Think. Again.]

9. That's actually damn good (oops!)...

..really, I think that's great that he has "urged" that.

However, looking at the list of catholic institutions that have succumbed to that urge, I only see 345 listed, I'm sure there are many, many more catholic institions worldwide, and most notably, I only see 2 institutions located in Vatican City, Italy, neither of them are the Vatican itself with it's billions of dollars worth of (whatever they do with their vow-of-poverty pay).

(Just a note, I was raised roman catholic and I mean no offense to individuals who still engage, but I have deeply personal reasons to not respect that organization.)

[OKIsItJustMe]

11. I hear you...

Last edited Sun Jul 23, 2023, 04:31 PM - Edit history (2)

Inertia is a frightful force, and the Roman Catholic Church has got close to 2,000 years worth of inertia to overcome. He’s (apparently) encountered a lot of “push back.” I only hope his (eventual) successor continues to try to turn the battleship…

Popular but facing opposition, Francis marks 10 years as pope

Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis marks 10 years as head of the Catholic Church on Monday, hugely popular but facing internal dissent after a decade of reform, even if he has left basic doctrine intact.

Issued on: 10/03/2023 - 04:42

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The smiling, outspoken Jesuit was in sharp contrast to his reserved, intellectual predecessor Benedict XVI, who shocked the world by becoming the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign.

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While he has not deviated from some staunch Catholic beliefs -- he has called abortion murder and homosexuality a sin -- he has shown a more compassionate and less dogmatic approach, including condemning the persecution of gay people.

"No more demonisation of homosexuality, debates on extramarital relations or the contraceptive pill... all that has been taken off the table," noted Italian Vaticanist Marco Politi.

Instead, the 86-year-old pontiff -- who is seemingly never happier than when among his flock -- has emphasised social justice, inter-religious dialogue, the environment and the rights of refugees.

…

[OKIsItJustMe]

12. Re: Damn good

Was that an allusion to Leonard Bernstein?

[Think. Again.]

13. Ha! no, but thanks, that was fun!

[Bayard]

10. Yes

I should have clarified I was talking about the office in general.

[Think. Again.]

2. pope guy says....

"Please, I renew my appeal to world leaders to do something more concrete to limit polluting emissions," the Pope said at the end of his Angelus message to crowds in St. Peter's Square."

Does he not realize he is a world leader, or is it just that roman catholic modesty showing again?

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Note #3 (Above)

3. To be fair

[Think. Again.]

7. Note #6 above