Between Two Worlds

The Catholic Thing ^ | March 3, 2017 | Robert Royal

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I hear from various sources that Bishop Sánchez Sorondo tries not to get himself crosswise with people who can help his mission. And that’s to the good. So I’d like to offer some advice, and to point to some concrete reasons why many people don’t entirely believe that.

To begin: He’s told the New York Times that criticisms of Vatican positions on the environment are “a ridiculous thing,” and that many of the critics are underwritten by oil companies.

As someone who has been involved in environmental debates for decades (and as many others know in the trenches), I’m sorry to have to say this is the height of hubris. Does the Holy See really believe that its friends at the U. N. have a monopoly on environmental truth? Or on what policies follow from the science? There are tens of thousands of scientists who don’t think so. And we didn’t see them in Rome this week.

But even worse, a high official in the Church – with virtually no knowledge of the individuals about whom he was speaking – has dismissed a large number of people with the claim that they are morally corrupt and have been bought and paid for by sinister economic actors. This is not Christian. It goes beyond hubris to outright calumny. It’s a scandal that a bishop in a highly visible post engaged in such blanket moral judgmentalism about people he would do well to get to know.

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Thanks for posting; clear-thinking and articulate Bob Royal always worth listening to!