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
Uhmmmm - since before Herod. King Saul tried it on for size - but, of course, that was the precursor “church”.
I’m trying to be a good Catholic but it seems like the Pope is getting a little off his mission path with climate change.
I keep thinking about Pope John Paul II. Wonder what he would think of this Pope.
The article fails to mention how much cash the EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy will be bringing to the Vatican. It will only be considered a church donation (instead of a bribe) of course. This pope is evil.
Disturbing.
Where’s all the catholics who usually claim that all the negative fuss is just because of “bad translation?”
Between climate change, illegal immigration, and taking a stand in favor of Castro in Cuba, this Pope is turning out to be REALLY REALLY bad.
It turned out to be wishful thinking. Bottom line, he is a Jesuit, which means he is a liberal with a political agenda. So far he has only given his opinion and changed nothing insofar as Catholic doctrine. My new wishful thinking is that he continues to change nothing except for fixing administrative problems, which is one cause he seems to be fighting for that is actually noble.
Ohhh come now... he is selected to lead the church that can "defeat " the "gates of hell"..How can that be ??
Do you really think you are making a point?
The flaws of an individual Pope have nothing to do with the promises made to the Church by Jesus.
Sure she is!
A church that supposedly can defeat the gates of Hell should be able to pick good Popes.
troll much?
This Pope sucks.
And there ya go...his first defender!
Not at all. Simply a note of the boring predictability of these threads. I do not keep score but my impression that most Catholic FReepers are beyond exasperated with the current Pope.
So here is yet another start on the road to the Whore of Babylon which these threads ultimately degenerate to.
Deja vu all over again.
Some are, some aren’t. I find it very difficult to even follow how a RC conservative could not denounce everything this Pontiff is doing.
Sounds like we need a name for the type of Godwin’s law that I’m creating here...where a Catholic Church/Pope type thread degenerates into a “harlot” thread.
If the Catholic Church is getting involved in politics....TAX THEM!
I posted something with reference to the h word,
and it got pulled fairly quickly...
actually, my reference was to the W of Babylon.
Laboring under the reliance upon the useless works of man is a Protestant frame of mind. God can and does use the worst of tools for His own purpose — which may well be chastisement.
Chastisement seems to be a Catholic tradition!
The only way that statement would make sense, would be if the person making had never cracked a bible in his or her life.
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