Posted on 12/11/2007 11:29:25 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
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.
The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.
The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement.
His remarks will be made in his annual message for World Peace Day on January 1, but they were released as delegates from all over the world convened on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali for UN climate change talks.
The 80-year-old Pope said the world needed to care for the environment but not to the point where the welfare of animals and plants was given a greater priority than that of mankind.
"Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow," he said in the message entitled "The Human Family, A Community of Peace".
"It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances.
"If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations.
"Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken."
Efforts to protect the environment should seek "agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances", the Pope said.
He added that to further the cause of world peace it was sensible for nations to "choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of unilateral decisions" in how to cooperate responsibly on conserving the planet.
The Pope's message is traditionally sent to heads of government and international organisations.
His remarks reveal that while the Pope acknowledges that problems may be associated with unbridled development and climate change, he believes the case against global warming to be over-hyped.
A broad consensus is developing among the world's scientific community over the evils of climate change.
But there is also an intransigent body of scientific opinion which continues to insist that industrial emissions are not to blame for the phenomenon.
Such scientists point out that fluctuations in the earth's temperature are normal and can often be caused by waves of heat generated by the sun. Other critics of environmentalism have compared the movement to a burgeoning industry in its own right.
In the spring, the Vatican hosted a conference on climate change that was welcomed by environmentalists.
But senior cardinals close to the Vatican have since expressed doubts about a movement which has been likened by critics to be just as dogmatic in its assumptions as any religion.
In October, the Australian Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, caused an outcry when he noted that the atmospheric temperature of Mars had risen by 0.5 degrees celsius.
"The industrial-military complex up on Mars can't be blamed for that," he said in a criticism of Australian scientists who had claimed that carbon emissions would force temperatures on earth to rise by almost five degrees by 2070 unless drastic solutions were enforced.
Where is the link to that. I’d love to read that. I, as a Catholic agree with him on these two issues.
BUMP!
hahah
Fair enough!
I’m sure his sentiment will be echoed by Catholic Democrats. /s
He he he...
nice
It's hard to tell if those are the Pope's words, or the reporter's.
Since it's negative (against the Algorians), I would lean toward it being the Pope's words. Reporters have something in their union contract about saying bad things about the Algorians.
MSM has a nasty habit of taking some things he says, ignoring others, and making him appear to be some sort of socialist or eco-weenie. They did that to his prececessor, as well.
A broad consensus is developing among the world's scientific community over the evils of climate change.
Ain't nobody who disagrees that there is evidence of climate change. It's an observed phenomenon. even if nobody's sure how to quantify it.
intransigent body of scientific opinion which continues to insist that industrial emissions are not to blame
Many reputable scientists are "intransigent" i.e., they insist on observable evidence, of which there ain't much, that this might be a man-made (anthropogenic) change.
And nowhere does the Supreme Pontiff and former hitlerjugend member use the stupid code words, "Global Warming." A completely rational approach to the situation.
A voice of sanity in an insane world.
“any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.”.....AlGore IS King Dubious!
The Daily Telegraph: Pope To Purge The Vatican of Modern Music
The Daily Telegraph reports, “The Pope is considering a dramatic overhaul of the Vatican in order to force a return to traditional sacred music.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/20/wpope120.xml
Here’s an extended quote:
After reintroducing the Latin Tridentine Mass, the Pope wants to widen the use of Gregorian chant and baroque sacred music.
In an address to the bishops and priests of St Peter’s Basilica, he said that there needed to be “continuity with tradition” in their prayers and music.
He referred pointedly to “the time of St Gregory the Great”, the pope who gave his name to Gregorian chant.
Gregorian chant has been reinstituted as the primary form of singing by the new choir director of St Peter’s, Father Pierre Paul.
He has also broken with the tradition set up by John Paul II of having a rotating choir, drawn from churches all over the world, to sing Mass in St Peter’s.
The Pope has recently replaced the director of pontifical liturgical celebrations, Archbishop Piero Marini, with a man closer to his heart, Mgr Guido Marini. It is now thought he may replace the head of the Sistine Chapel choir, Giuseppe Liberto.
The International Church Music Review recently criticised the choir, saying: “The singers wanted to overshout each other, they were frequently out of tune, the sound uneven, the conducting without any artistic power, the organ and organ playing like in a second-rank country parish church.”
Mgr Valentin Miserachs Grau, the director of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, which trains church musicians, said that there had been serious “deviations” in the performance of sacred music.
“How far we are from the true spirit of sacred music. How can we stand it that such a wave of inconsistent, arrogant and ridiculous profanities have so easily gained a stamp of approval in our celebrations?” he said.
He added that a pontifical office could correct the abuses, and would be “opportune”. He said: “Due to general ignorance, especially in sectors of the clergy, there exists music which is devoid of sanctity, true art and universality.”
Mgr Grau said that Gregorian chant was the “cardinal point” of liturgical music and that traditional music “should become again the living soul of the assembly”.
I am reading two great books on the state of the catholic church: the music, architecture etc.
They are both by Thomas Day, “Why Catholics Can’t Sing” and
“Where Have You Gone, Michelangelo: The Loss of Soul in Catholic Culture”
Both get right to the point.
Reading the article a few times I think that is a comment by the author and not something out of the Pope's released notes.
Cool, thanks!
Vivat Pontifex Maximus!
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