Posted on 01/29/2015 5:30:23 AM PST by Gamecock
WASHINGTON— In a bid to bolster the Obama administration's "moral" case for combating climate change, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency will meet senior Vatican officials Friday to enlist papal support for its policies.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said Pope Francis, who has become a vocal climate advocate since his 2013 election, can be an ally for President Barack Obama's Climate Action Plan.
"As one of the world's most respected and influential leaders, Pope Francis, and those who advise him, will play a crucial part in advancing climate change [action] domestically and overseas,'' McCarthy, a Roman Catholic, said in an e-mail.
This marks the second time the administration has sought the Vatican's help on a controversial issue. The pope helped mediate the effort by the United States and Cuba to reopen diplomatic relations.
Francis has become an emerging voice on climate change, saying on a recent trip to the typhoon-vulnerable Philippines that "man has gone too far damaging the environment."
The EPA is finalizing a series of regulations targeting carbon emissions and air pollution amid strong resistance from the Republican-led Congress and industry.
To counter that, McCarthy has done extensive public outreach to win support for EPA proposals, touting their economic and public health benefits. She said the pope could help make her case.
"Focusing our attention on the communities that need it most is at the core of EPA's mission to protect public health and the environment, and there is no voice more credible than the church's to speak to our moral obligation as stewards of our planet,'' McCarthy said.
In June, the pope is expected to issue an encyclical on environmental degradation and its effects on millions of people, especially the world's poorest. The encyclical is aimed at pressuring world leaders to secure a United Nations climate agreement in Paris next December that would require rich and poor countries to halt, slow or slash their carbon emissions.
Dan Misleh, executive director of the Catholic Climate Covenant, said the encyclical will "add some wind to the sails'' of the Paris talks.
"What he says carries significant weight as he tries to live what he teaches," Misleh said. "There is moral authority to Pope Francis that is undeniable."
Added John Grim, a director of Yale University's Forum on Religion and Ecology: "It is very appropriate that Gina McCarthy is visiting with the pope. Francis I is so widely respected that he will change the dialog on this issue
“Francis I is so widely respected...”
***
Not by me, not anymore.
I guess such a partnership makes sense. A commie administration and a commie pope.
Left Behind series comes to life.
We have a Pope who is endorsing the plans of the NWO to kill a billion poor people.
Quid pro quo: I agree to stop GoreBull Warming, you agree to end abortion.
I’d take that deal.
Isn't that special?
He's gotten involved with comments supporting the invasion of the US over our southern border. He took sides, and that against many devout Cubans living in the US, concerning Cuba. And now the WH is trying to involve the Pope in climate change politics.
Pope Francis does not seem to have the "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's" concept nailed down. It's disturbing.
If Pope Francis is going to speak out about anything, how about it being the slaughter and imprisonment of Catholic school children in Nigeria? I'm not liking his priorities.
Waiting on Freeper Catholics to make excuses for his behavior.....again......(yawn).
When he can be of value to them.....
He is a Useful Idiot. (see communist playbook)
Is this before or after the pope crosses over from the Mexican border?
Will he have trannies with him and release balloons along the way?
Despots have sought to use the Church since...well, pretty much since Herod.
Insane leftists DO tend to flock together.
Scientists are always trying to usurp the power of God.
+++++
One day a group of scientists got together and decided that man had come a long way and no longer needed God. They picked one scientist to go and tell Him that they were done with Him. The scientist walked up to God and said, “God, we’ve decided that we no longer need you. We’re to the point that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don’t you just go on and get lost.”
God listened patiently and kindly to the man and, after the scientist was done talking, God said, “Very well! How about this? Let’s have a man-making contest.”
To which the man replied, “OK, great!”
But God added, “Now we’re going to do this just like I did back in the old days with Adam.”
The scientist said, “Sure, no problem” and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt.
God just looked at him and said, “No, no, no. You go get your own dirt!”
This is “unconstitutional”. It violates the DemocRATS’ “wall of separation”. Time to put “the White House’s” goatsmellin’ @$$ in prison.
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