Pope Francis Errs In Linking Church To Green Movement

Investors.com ^ | 12/29/14 | IBD Editorials

[BlatherNaut]

Pope Francis' recent leftist statements should trouble Catholics and non-Catholics alike, but even more disturbing are the pope's latest declarations on the dramatic action needed to fight climate change...

...What climate-change action will the Vatican endorse? Almost all the leading anti-climate-change initiatives endorsed by the Green Movement — cap and trade, carbon taxes, regulations against using abundant fossil fuels — are merely regressive taxes that hurt the poor the most. What is the ethical and moral basis for going to poor villages and telling those living at subsistence levels that they have an obligation to save the planet by staying poor and using less energy? Cheap and affordable electric power is the best antidote for extreme poverty, disease, malnutrition and human deprivation....

[DannyTN]

I don’t think “being green” and “salvatin by works” are one and the same, though I’m sure there is some cross-over.

[MrB]

That’s the primary motivation for sheeperals - they are “a good person” (ie, worthy of salvation) because they “care about the erf”.

Any other motivation driving the sheeperals’ support of “environmentalism” is a distant second.

[DannyTN]

I don't think you can inpune the entire green movement with that philosophy. Some of them probably are. Some are motivated by money and probably are paid by oil rich countries and third world countries seeking to hamper our industries or misappropriated government grants obtained through fraud.

But others just care about the environment. And some of those are misled by junk science. And some are legit.

As Christians we are supposed to care about the environment. But we are also supposed to use the noodle God gave us and discern the spirits.

[G Larry]

Yep, he can make math errors too.

AGW is NOT a matter of faith or morals.

[MrB]

If ACTUALLY caring about the environment were the primary motivation for some people,

wouldn’t they be open to actual data pointing out that the earth ISN’T warming and that the environment ISN’T in danger?

[BlatherNaut]

“Padre, your area of expertise is sin, and from now on you will confine your activities to that theater of operation.”

:)

[steve86]

Hard to imagine at least some wouldn’t feel compelled to decouple from that church.

If they were to do that they'd be failing to understand that the Church isn't a pope spouting off about his personal agenda -- the Church is the faith and beliefs and liturgies from the preceding 2,000 years and those haven't changed.

[Cold Heart]

I wondered what had been covered in the Obama visit.

[dead]

I would imagine many Catholics would find themselves at cross-purposes with Frank’s embrace of junk science. Hard to imagine at least some wouldn’t feel compelled to decouple from that church.

The pope's opinions on global warming are about as relevant to Catholicism as his favorite brand of hot sauce.

[xone]

ph

[Dr. Sivana]

The pope's opinions on global warming are about as relevant to Catholicism as his favorite brand of hot sauce.

If I see him, I'll recommedn Crystal.

[livius]

That’s what I keep telling people. The Pope is not the Church, and the Church is not the Pope. He is the successor to St Peter, meaning that he is supposed to be the one who confirms and protects the faith of the Church that has been developed since the time of Our Lord through the teachings of the Apostles and their successors (the bishops).

Each bishop has a “line of succession” that goes back to one or another Apostle, who consecrated his first successor who then passed it on. Because of the numerous attacks on Rome in the Middle Ages (by various European powers), most of the Western Church records have been destroyed or scattered, but I believe there are some Eastern churches...possibly the Armenian Church....that can identify the Apostle from which they are descended.

St Peter, while having been delegated as the Rock, not only denied Our Lord but had to be reproved by the other Apostles from time to time. And it could be that some of their respective successors are going to have to do likewise.

[Argus]

Like most other bishops and ecclesiastical bosses, the Pope is a politician first, a spiritual leader second. If at all.

[Dqban22]

The green movement is another façade of the radical left as it is the Marxist liberation theology. Both movements have been strongly embraced by Francis. How much needs the Church a pope with the strong faith and intellectual caliber of Benedict XVI!!!

[vbmoneyspender]

The Fable of Federal Regulation • No, states didn't ignore environmental problems.

Contrary to common perceptions, many measures of environmental quality were already improving prior to the advent of federal environmental laws. The Environmental Protection Agency's first national water quality inventory, conducted in 1973, found that there had been substantial improvement in water quality in major waterways during the decade before adoption of the federal Clean Water Act, at least for the pollutants of greatest concern at the time, organic waste and bacteria (Freeman 1990, 114).

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, state and local governments began to recognize the importance of environmental quality and adopted first-generation environmental controls. Some states' efforts were more comprehensive and more successful than others, and different states had different priorities. Environmental protection did not always trump health care, education, or other local concerns. Nonetheless, by 1966, every state had adopted water pollution legislation of some sort.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Good stewards, yes.

Sixty years ago, when we were dumping raw sewage from five large cities into Lake Erie, and Pittsburgh was dark at noontime from all of the coal smoke....probably not the smartest thing from a health or a Biblical perspective.

Not at all the same thing as this Climate Change argument. The only Biblical perspective on that is that the climate is under the complete and full control of the Almighty.

[twister881]

I’m a conservative Anglican (formerly Episcopalian, until PECUSA/TEC went pansexual and divorced itself from Scripture & Tradition). I view the Roman Catholic Church as one of the few firewalls remaining against the Socialists and their atheism. I fear Francis is going to destroy the Church from within, and Benedict will not be able to do anything about it. Is there any canonical process by which Rome — the cardinals or the Curia — can remove him?

[Dqban22]

It is in the hand of God. We have pray God call Francis before he completes the destruction of the Church. It is perplexing the parallelism among Obama and Francis.

[Arthur McGowan]

It isn’t wearing thin with me. It wore OUT long ago.

You know when? The moment he came out on the balcony and KNELT DOWN for a “blessing” from the crowd.

I thought: What a disgusting showboat. I’m so humble. Look at me, being humble. Look at meee! I’m Pope!!! And I’m HUMBLE!!! Meeee!!! Humble!!!

He is a vain, shallow, vindictive man. Just read that he has intervened directly in the appointment of bishops around the world, especially in the Spanish-speaking world. Horrible priests are being plucked from obscurity and made bishops. Cupich was his personal choice for Chicago. Cupich is already publicly committed to committing the MORTAL SIN (along with Wuerl, Dolan, O’Malley and 95% of American bishops) of giving Communion to pro-aborts.

Unless (against all expectations) this encyclical exposes and condemns the Global Warming Hoax as a scheme of the eugenicists and the super-rich totalitarians, it will be first time a Pope has used an encyclical to promote a criminal HOAX.

Pray for a new (Catholic) Pope—SOON. Haven’t we been punished enough since 1962?

[Arthur McGowan]

He understand none of it. He’s part of it.