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Pope Francis is hosting a gathering next week at the Vatican with executives of major oil producers and investment firms to talk about how the companies can address climate change, according to several people familiar with the event. Why it matters: It’s one of the most significant developments showing how corporations are working with other world leaders on climate change amid President Trump’s whole-scale retreat on the issue. Situational awareness: One year ago today, Trump announced his intention to withdraw America from the Paris climate deal, which now has support from every country except the United States. Three years ago,...

That darn global warming rears its ugly head Monday at the Vatican (click images to enlarge)

On the flight back to Rome from Cartagena on Sept. 10, Pope Francis addressed two questions that are much discussed in the United States today: the situation of the 800,000 Dreamers whose could face deportation and the moral responsibility of governments that deny climate change. Responding to a question about the negative effects of the suspension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in the United States, Pope Francis said that since the president presents himself as pro-life, then he should also be pro-family and not do anything that would be detrimental to the family. The pope also addressed...

Papal Motto: Climate Change “Bad” – Doctrinal Change Good? Posted on June 1, 2017June 2, 2017 by Steven O'Reilly June 1, 2017 (Steven O’Reilly) – Under President Trump, the United States will now exit the Paris accord on climate change.  This is excellent news for the country and the American worker.  Yet, word comes via Crux that Argentine Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, says such a policy change by President Trump would be a “slap” in the face of this Pope.   From the Crux article, we read the...

Catholics participating in the Peoples Climate Movement march in the nation’s capital will be able to pray at a Mass and visit their representatives on Capitol Hill as part of two days of activities. March organizers are expecting hundreds of thousands of people to travel to Washington April 29 in a broad showing of grass-roots support for federal government action in addressing climate change and to oppose the rollback of environmental standards by the administration of President Donald Trump. Catholic organizations are planning to greet hundreds of Catholics as well. The Franciscan Action Network and Interfaith Power & Light of...

"With cries that pierce me to the heart, / my enemies revile me, / saying to me all the day long: / ‘Where is your God?’” — Psalm 42. "In paganism, the Divine is that to which sacrifices must be offered. This is almost a definition. In this recent movement, Man is something that should be sacrificed on behalf of the Earth. The divinization of the Earth is an extremely consequential move, since it is supposed to be higher than Man.” — Rêmi Brague, “Are There as Many Gods as Religions?” (Modern Age, Summer 2015) I. With so much current...

If we had the name of a Republican politician who was invited to attend last week’s Vatican conference on climate change and human trafficking—any Republican, just one Republican—we might feel just a bit better about the result. But the strongly partisan cast of the final statement that issued from that conference, together with the strongly partisan cast of characters in attendance, creates the impression that this event was not so much a conference as a political rally. California’s Governor Jerry Brown was there. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was there. Boston’s Mayor Marty Walsh was there. But among the...

Pope Francis recently released a new encyclical. Portions of it deal with environmentalism, global warming, and climate change. Naturally, this has prompted controversy. It’s noteworthy that Francis didn’t merely make a passing comment on global warming during this or that sermon, but that he issued a papal encyclical on the matter. Encyclicals are much more formal and significant than remarks made during mass. They are letters written by a pope and sent to bishops all around the world. In turn, the bishops are meant to disseminate the encyclical’s ideas to all the priests and churches in their jurisdiction, so that...

<p>One of the speakers slated for the Vatican rollout of the long-awaited Papal document on climate change once said the earth is overpopulated by at least 6 billion people.</p> <p>The teaching document, called an encyclical, is scheduled for release on June 18 at Vatican City. Perhaps with the exception of the 1968 encyclical on contraception, no Vatican document has been greeted with such anticipation.</p>

Monckton said that Schnellnhuber will be standing by the side of Pope Francis when they announce the encyclical next week. “The fact that Schnellnhuber is going to be there is an extremely bad sign,” he declared.

Via Life Site News come some frankly bizarre statements from the Vatican official who put together last month's Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity conference. Two major speakers at the conference were Jeffrey Sachs, widely criticized for the abject failure of his Millennium Villages initiative, and Ban-Ki moon, current secretary general of the United Nations—both of whom are extremely pro-abortion. Which the Catholic Church is not. Stefano Gennarini asks Archbishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Science and Social Sciences, whether he knew about the pro-abortion and population control chops of his two big guests and whether that...

The new Vatican Has support of only 20% of bishops. Enthusiasts, enemies and silent dissenters colour Francis’s fraught relationship with Curia. Bond with ordinary people and harshness with Church hierarchy criticised “There’s depression. Heads are cowed. When he speaks about bishops, this Pope who shows great compassion to everyone else is inclined to use a stick”. On rereading it the following day, the Pope’s address to the opening of the Italian bishops’ conference (CEI) left a deep impression, provoking some bitter reflections. The address was received as confirmation of severity that has been perceived with pained surprise over the past...

It was a lot of hot air about a lot of hot air. Democrats took to the Senate floor Monday night to talk about global warming and did not let up until morning.

It is early evening on Capitol Hill, and I am sitting with Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, who, along with John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, is trying to craft a new energy bill — one that could actually win 60 votes. What is interesting about Graham is that he has been willing — courageously in my view — to depart from the prevailing G.O.P. consensus that the only energy policy we need is “drill, baby, drill.” What brought you around, I ask? Graham’s short answer: politics, jobs and legacy. We start with politics. The Republican Party today has...

At least since the energy crisis of the early 1970s, the United States has wrestled with the difficult question of how best to ensure an adequate energy supply while protecting the environment. Today, this question continues to play a role in our political debates. Whether and how public policy might reduce reliance on imported oil, encourage lower-emission vehicles, and spur the development of new or cleaner sources of power are all regular matters of public discussion and concern.Believing that prudent policies require a well-informed citizenry—one well versed in the facts—we sought, with the help of survey research conducted by Zogby...