Posted on 01/15/2015 7:34:11 PM PST by ebb tide
As the United States Senate prepares to vote on a non-binding resolution on whether or not manmade global warming exists, Pope Francis weighed in on the issue with his most extensive and forceful comments on the subject to date.
Let's just say that the pope is not aligned with many Senate Republicans, who doubt the reality and threat of manmade global warming, on this issue.
Speaking to reporters aboard his plane while flying to Manila from Sri Lanka, Pope Francis said the "majority" of global warming is manmade, which is a view that is consistent with mainstream climate-science findings.
“I don’t know if it is all [man’s fault] but the majority is, for the most part, it is man who continuously slaps down nature,” he said, according to The Guardian.
His outspoken stance on climate change has encouraged debate within the Catholic community worldwide, as many people view the Earth as God's creation, and think it is arrogant to believe that humans could ever play such a dominant role over nature. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), an evangelical Christian, is one of the most prominent holders of this view.
“We have, in a sense, lorded it over nature, over Sister Earth, over Mother Earth,” the pope said, according to The Guardian.
“I think man has gone too far,” he added. “Thank God that today there are voices that are speaking out about this.”
The pope plans to issue an encyclical in June that will lay out his views on climate change and other environmental issues in greater detail, ahead of a crucial global warming summit in Paris scheduled for this December. An encyclical is an official Papal document that is sent to all Catholic bishops around the world.
The Paris talks are supposed to result in a new global climate agreement for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that would enter into force in 2020.
The pope said he was "disappointed" by the most recent United Nations climate talks, which were held in Lima, Peru, last December. The talks proved particularly arduous, and had to be extended by two days, before diplomats agreed to a draft text to be negotiated in Paris.
“The Peru meeting was nothing much; it disappointed me. I think there was a lack of courage. They stopped at a certain point. Let’s hope the delegates in Paris will be more courageous and move forward with this,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, senators will have to go on record with their own views on climate science when they vote as early as Friday on a planned amendment that would force them to endorse or reject the existence of manmade global warming on climate change. At least two senators — one Democrat and one Independent who caucuses with the Democrats — plan to offer versions of amendments to that effect during debate on the Keystone XL Pipeline.
A similar vote took place in 2005, when a "Sense of the Senate" resolution was adopted. At that time, 12 Republicans joined Democrats to support the amendment, but there will likely be less Republican support this time, given the widespread rejection of global warming research findings among today's Republican leadership.
"Sister Earth", "Mother Earth"?
Oh, brother!
This may offend Catholics, but the Pope has no idea what he’s talking about and he seems to be nothing but a left-wing propagandist.
Duped. Lovin Gaia.
I guess he won’t be contributing to the Freepathon
Agreed. I have no idea why this guy was elected pope, but it definitely doesn’t seem like there was any divine guidance involved.
The good news is that he apparently has no qualms about demonstrating his abject idiocy on any number of subjects ... including many that he is absolutely unqualified to make any definitive statements about.
Mostly Manmade - much like Catholism.
It’s becoming more difficult to remain a Republican.
Now, it’s becoming more difficult to remain a Catholic.
What’s next, the CEO of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse saying something this stupid so it will make it more difficult for me to be remain a Carnivore?
The Church is dying... evil is running rampant and we have a Pope who aspired to be Al Gore?
He is tilting further and further left. Next he will endorse eugenics and abortion as a means to save the earth.
So you think Jesus Christ was only a man?
I’m Catholic and I agree with you fully. I want someone to ask him a personal question in clear Rioplatense, which is the Spanish spoken in Argentina. Ask him “How much, Your Holiness? How much money will be coming to the Vatican because of your public support for Global Warming? Whose science are you using to embrace this conclusion? Will your source allow for open debate of the topic?
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>> “Mostly Manmade - much like Catholism.” <<
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Exactly!
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He is the Glenn Beck of popes. Waaaaaay freakin out there.
Agree with first part. However God - for whatever reason - allowed this Pope to be elected. That is what scares me
I will grant the Pope this, he is certainly an expert on hot air.
The Pope needs to spend less time on global warming and more time stopping his priests from grabbing little boy’s weiners.
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