Posted on 03/12/2024 1:17:57 PM PDT by ebb tide
Pope Francis' call for the world to address the coming consequences of global climate change has not garnered enough attention at the U.S. Catholic bishops' conference, said a leading American cardinal.
In an exclusive interview with National Catholic Reporter in late February, San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy said the pope's environmental vision "has not gotten the attention of the conference that it should get, and that the pope is calling us to get."
"It has not been institutionalized in the conference in the same way that other major initiatives and priorities within the life of the church in the United States have been," said the cardinal, speaking in an interview for NCR's "The Vatican Briefing" podcast.
McElroy, who has led the San Diego Diocese since 2015 and was made a cardinal by Francis in 2022, was speaking in particular about reception among U.S. bishops of the pope's 2015 environmental encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home," which called for dramatic action to confront climate change.
The "most important" part of the encyclical, said the cardinal, "is Pope Francis' assertion of what is Catholic faith: that nature is graced, that God has given us the gift of the created order and it's our responsibility to sustain [it]."
"And now it's in danger on a variety of fronts," said McElroy. "So, with the eyes of faith, we've got to see this is God's gift which is in jeopardy now."
The cardinal was speaking to NCR on the sidelines of a conference hosted at the University of San Diego, which included some 80 bishops, theologians and Catholic leaders for two days of conversation to reckon with what was described as the failure of the U.S. church to implement the pope's environmental teachings.
In the interview, McElroy said the Catholic Church "needs to be … a leading voice in the world on the dangers to our environment."
"Creation is not just a thing that we encounter," said the cardinal. "It's not disposable. It's not something given to us simply to use and toss away."
Addressing climate change, he said, is "a moral, religious, spiritual challenge."
"It's not primarily even a scientific challenge," said McElroy. "It's a moral challenge."
Good!
"It's not primarily even a scientific challenge," said McElroy. "It's a moral challenge."
But blessing homosexual or adulterous couples is not a moral challenge?
Frankencardinal Barf Alert Ping
I promise you, we should focus more on avoiding the eternal fire of Hell than avoiding the good things from living during the Modern Warm Period.
Apparently, they aren’t interested in raising a ‘white’ flag... Neither are the Ukrainian’s.
There IS NO GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE"!!!
The only "consequences" occur in pretending its real.
Bless his heart.
The Poop should stay in his lane.
The U.S. Bishops ought to S-can the Dope’s Climate Craziness and the Bishops of the world out to S-can the Dope.
Gaia worship is just not that popular here I guess.
If the guy had any integrity Bergoglio wouldn’t have made him a cardinal.
The blind leading the blind.
Yes, the Pope should stay in the theological lane. Getting wrapped up in Gaia worship seems counterintuitive to Roman Catholic catechism.
McElroy is one of Bergoglio’s little henchmen. Imagine, a relatively small diocese in Southern California has a Bishop made a Cardinal by Bergoglio while the two large Archdioceses of Los Angeles, which is the largest Archdiocese in the US, and San Francisco, are not headed up by a Cardinal. Only the left wing nutcase in San Diego gets a red hat.
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