SOS to Pope Francis: It’s souls that need saving not the environment
Judi McLeod, Canada Free Press
Protocol and pomp and ceremony aside, why would Christ’s Vicar on Earth come to pay homage to a president who is unabashedly the world’s top champion of abortions, including partial birth abortions; whose party refuses to defund Planned Parenthood whose organization sells body parts of aborted babies on the black market; and whose presidency is driven by a soul-corroding hatred of the country he was elected to serve?
Spiritual roundup: ‘Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality’ by Pope Francis, more
Barbara Mahany, Chicago Tribune
This breathtaking amalgam of urgency and poetry mines the spirit and appeals to the moral core. Billed as the pope’s pontifications on the environment, it is in fact a sweeping letter addressing a spectrum of global sins, not the least of which is summed up in Francis’ declaration that “(t)he earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.”
Pope’s climate stance is still sinking in
Jeff Montgomery, The News Journal
Enthusiasm is building across the Wilmington Diocese over Pope Francis’ scheduled visit to Philadelphia late next month, with some local Catholics planning to join a million-or-more-person crowd in Philadelphia and many more saying they’ll watch every moment from afar.
Catholics are being encouraged to reflect, act and pray on pope’s encyclical Laudato Si’
The Catholic Herald
The heads of the Catholic Church in England, Wales and Scotland – Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Philip Tartaglia – have urged Catholics to embrace the opportunity to study Pope Francis’ work. In a joint statement, from the encyclical study guide created by Cafod and Sciaf, the senior clerics said: “Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’, is an open dialogue with all people on the care of our common home.
Pope Francis and the Republican Presidential Hopefuls: A Widening Divide
Stephen Seufert, Patheos
A prevailing narrative developing among GOP presidential candidates is that Pope Francis isn’t a political leader and therefore they don’t have to listen to him on matters such as the economy, environment, immigration, and diplomacy. Bush, Rubio and Santorum have all been on record asserting this. Regardless of these dismissive views, as the sovereign of Vatican City, Pope Francis is in fact a statesman and political figure.
Islamic climate change declaration rooted in faith
SciDev.net
Quoting the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad, the declaration urges governments, corporations and “all Muslims wherever they may be” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, it asks the parties that will sit at the negotiating table at the UN’s December climate summit in Paris to reach an “equitable and binding conclusion”, and calls on well-off nations and oil-producing states to help poorer countries through “generous financial and technical support”.
Why Social Conditions Matter to the Pope
Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Rev. Jesse Jackson, Huffington Post
God is not only concerned about personal piety but with the social condition in which we find ourselves. During the prosperous kingdoms of Judah and Israel, the prophetic message to the people of Israel who had gone astray was not to increase their piety. It was a call to eschew luxury (Amos 6:4-6) do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. Indeed the prophets routinely criticized the people for putting personal piety ahead of addressing oppression and doing justice.
New survey on Americans’ views on papal encyclical on climate change
The Suffield Times
“Regardless that the Pope’s Encyclical is a serious theological assertion, fewer than 2 in 5 churchgoing Catholics heard about it from their priest within the month after it was launched,” stated Anthony Leiserowitz, a school member of the Yale Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Research. “However this will change when Pope Francis visits america in September to convey his message personally.”
Pointing to hope
The Barre Montpelier Times Argus
Similarly, Pope Francis, in his 180-page treatise, pleads, “I urgently appeal then for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all. The worldwide ecological movement has already made considerable progress and led to the establishment of numerous organizations committed to raising awareness of these challenges. Regrettably, many efforts to seek concrete solutions to the environmental crisis have proved ineffective, not only because of powerful opposition but also because of a more general lack of interest.”