Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican again turns off lights for ‘Earth Hour’ to promote ‘respect for Our Mother Earth’Father Enzo Fortunato, the communicators director of St. Peter’s Basilica, linked the move to Pope Francis’ encyclical on ‘climate change,’ Laudato Si’."The Vatican once again turned off its external lights for an hour this weekend to “raise awareness of respect for Our Mother Earth.”In a statement issued to journalists accredited to the Holy See late Saturday afternoon, Father Enzo Fortunato – the recently appointed director of communications for St. Peter’s Basilica – announced the darkening of the basilica that evening: On the occasion of...

Some 300 million people around the world are starting their annual celebration of renewal and harmony with nature in what is to them the biggest cultural holiday of the year, typically involving 13 days of rituals. Nowruz (alternatively spelled Nauruz, Nauryz, Navruz, Nevruz, Nooruz, Norooz, Norouz, or Novruz), also known as Persian New Year (Nowruz means “new day” in Persian), is celebrated across ethnic groups with a common Silk Roads heritage, including Afghanistan, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkey, as well as their diaspora in other countries. Watch more from TIME Click to Learn More AD pause volume_off...

In his second Christmas address to the nation since ascending to the throne, King Charles III beseeched Britons and those worldwide to “protect the earth”, continuing his longstanding green agenda advocacy. In a pre-recorded Christmas address filmed in Buckingham Palace, King Charles said: “To care for this creation is a responsibility owned by people of all faiths and of none. We care for the Earth for the sake of our children’s children.

Pope Francis to COP28: Environmental destruction is ‘an offense against God’Pope Francis called the destruction of the environment “an offense against God” in a message given to the participants in the U.N. climate summit on Saturday.The keynote address that the pope had intended to give in person at the COP28 conference was distributed to the attendees in Dubai, where Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin read a shortened version of the pope’s speech to the assembly on Dec. 2.Pope Francis, who turns 87 in two weeks, canceled his scheduled trip to the United Arab Emirates days before the climate...

Shazam! The idea struck me like a bolt of lightning. One of the great joys of living in Jerusalem is participating in the all-night Torah study sessions offered for free around town into the wee hours of the holiday of Shavuot (Pentecost) – celebrating the receiving of the Torah on Mount Sinai approximately 3,700 years ago. I have to admit that as I age, my ability to focus late into the night has waned and my mind wanders, as a good Jew’s often does, to some of the Big Issues of the day. On this particular holy night, as the...

In a message for the upcoming Season of Creation, Albanian Archbishop Angelo Massafra of Shkodër-Pult, a member of the Pastoral Social Care Commission of the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Europe (CCEE), echoes Pope Francis’ call for an ecological conversion, recalling that the current climate crisis is mainly attributable to the actions of man.As the Church prepares to celebrate the Season of Creation, from 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to 4 October 2021, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron Saint of Ecology, the European Bishops join Pope Francis in urging...

Pope Francis Prays U.N. Climate Summit Will ‘Unite the Human Family’ROME — Pope Francis said Wednesday that “Mother Earth groans and begs us to stop our abuse” of creation.Following his weekly general audience in the Vatican, the pontiff noted September 1 will mark the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, kicking off a month-long “Season of Creation,” culminating on October 4, the feast of St Francis of Assisi. The pope went on to express his wish that the call to listen to the voice of creation will “foster in everyone a concrete commitment to care for our...

Germany's Catholic environmental Bishop, Rolf Lohmann takes a sceptical view of the debate on extending the operating lives of German nuclear power plants. In perspective, he said, it is ethically imperative to "phase out sooner rather than later, as nuclear energy remains a risky technology." Lohmann praised climate strike actions. Germany's Catholic environmental Bishop Rolf Lohmann takes a sceptical view of the debate on extending the operating life of German nuclear power plants. It is true that "it would be wrong to categorically rule out this measure in an emergency", the auxiliary bishop from Xanten told the weekly newspapers "Neue...

The ecological display is designed to highlight awareness of ‘climate change’ and is named after the pagan goddess known also as ‘Pachamama.’COBH, Ireland (LifeSiteNews) – A historic Catholic cathedral in the south of Ireland is currently displaying a giant earth sculpture named after a pagan god of the earth, in an ecological display attempting to “appreciate the complex rhythms of our planet.” The historic Cobh Cathedral in the Diocese of Cloyne is currently home to a giant sculpture of the earth, named GAIA, designed to highlight awareness of “climate change.” The name GAIA is that of the Greek earth goddess...

Rome Newsroom, May 19, 2022 / 09:54 am Pope Francis formally launched an international educational movement on Thursday in the presence of U2 singer Bono. The pope inaugurated the Scholas Occurrentes International Educational Movement on May 19 during a meeting with young people at Rome’s Pontifical Urban University.The 85-year-old pope sat in a wheelchair as he watched student presentations, before engaging in a question-and-answer session. Bono asked Pope Francis about the role of women and girls in tackling the climate crisis. The pope replied by pointing out that people speak of “Mother Earth,” not “Father Earth,” and indicating that women...

SAO PAULO (CNS) — A Catholic prelature in Brazil's Amazon has decreed that its parishes will not accept donations from any person or company that displaces minorities or damages the earth. Bishop José Ionilton Lisboa de Oliveira of Itacoatiara has prohibited parishes, pastoral communities, groups and movements linked to the prelature -- similar to a diocese — from receiving financial resources from those he says "damage the Amazon." "We decree, for an indefinite period, that in parishes, communities, pastorals, groups and movements of the Prelature of Itacoatiara, we will not receive financial resources, in currency or other goods, from politicians,...

I was very lucky to be able to make this little film.

In a letter to the spring meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Pope Francis called for the creation of new institutions of “global governance” to help advance the “integral human development of all peoples.” He also said the “financial industry” should calculate the “ecological debt” of countries “so that developed countries can pay it.…” We cannot “overlook another kind of debt: the ‘ecological debt’ that exists, especially between the global north and south,” said the Pope in his April 8 letter. “We are, in fact, in debt to nature itself, as well as the people and...

Vatican observes 'Earth Hour'On Saturday, along with the Vatican, symbolic monuments of cities all across the globe turn off their lights, to demonstrate the serious global climate crisis.By Vatican News staff writerVatican City State took part in the traditional international initiative Earth Hour 2021, promoted annually by the environmental organization, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).On Saturday, from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (Rome time), the lights of the dome and the facade of St. Peter's Basilica, as well as the colonnade, were turned off. Only a few lights remained on for safety reasons.Earth hourEarth Hour is billed as...

The Prince of Wales has issued a stark warning that humans have just ten years left to save the planet. “We really do have to pull our fingers out now because the theory is we have got this decade left,” he declared. Prince Charles was marking the 50th anniversary of a landmark speech he made on the environment by calling for nature to be put back at the center of modern life. In 1970, he had warned about the problems of plastic waste, chemicals being discharged into rivers and air pollution caused by factories, cars and planes. This was regarded...

“We see ourselves not as an owner of wild rice but a symbiotic partner and a parallel entity from the Creator,” says Frank Bibeau, a lawyer from the Anishinaabe indigenous group in the United States and Canada. Harvesters use flailing sticks to beat the wild rice — or manoomin, by its Anishinaabe name — and release grain into the air. “A good portion of the rice gets sent out in all directions to reseed the rice. Maybe half of it or a little more falls into the canoe for food,” Bibeau explains. “So we are part of the natural reseeding...

In Brief The Facts: The Russian Ministry of Defense published an article about the existence of military parapsychology in Russian military techniques, which allows one to penetrate into the thoughts of another, hack computer programs, and communicate telepathically. Reflect On: Why is this type of science studied at the highest levels of various governments, yet ridiculed and not studied at all within the mainstream? Is telepathy real? It’s hard to argue against it; in fact, I would say that it’s not really up for debate. That being said, when it comes to topics like these, the field is polluted with...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recited a verse from the Bible at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities conference Wednesday, but verse she shared doesn't even exist, according to theology professors. “And I can’t find it in the Bible, but I quote it all the time, and I keep reading and reading the Bible,” Pelosi said.“I know it’s there someplace. It’s supposed to be in Isaiah. But I heard a bishop say, ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship.

Branson along with Bill Gates, Cargill, and Kimball Musk, backed the Memphis Meats clean-meat startup in its $17 million Series A round, which went on to raise in excess of $22 million. Memphis Meats will join a cadre of sustainable food businesses such as the three Israeli companies — Meat the Future, Future Meat Technologies, and SuperMeat — which will supply food to China as part of a $300 million deal. Branson, who gave up meat in 2014, appears to be investing in alignment with his beliefs and predictions about the future, all while trying to act against the deforestation...

The United Church of Canada plans to invest nearly $6 million into alternative energy sources that it acquired from selling all of its assets in fossil fuels. The denomination views the move as a bold step toward stewarding the gift of creation. "Care for creation and concern for the way that climate is impacting the most marginalized populations made this move an act of justice, of faith, and of solidarity with First Nations and other impacted communities," said Christine Boyle, General Council commissioner of the United Church and a veteran climate advocate, according to the National Advocate. The church will...