Laudate Si

[biffvernon]

Naomi Klein recruited by the Pope:

She is one of the world’s most high-profile social activists and a ferocious critic of 21st-century capitalism. He is one of the pope’s most senior aides and a professor of climate change economics. But this week the secular radical will join forces with the Catholic cardinal in the latest move by Pope Francis to shift the debate on global warming.

Naomi Klein and Cardinal Peter Turkson are to lead a high-level conference on the environment, bringing together churchmen, scientists and activists to debate climate change action. Klein, who campaigns for an overhaul of the global financial system to tackle climate change, told the Observer she was surprised but delighted to receive the invitation from Turkson’s office.

“The fact that they invited me indicates they’re not backing down from the fight. A lot of people have patted the pope on the head, but said he’s wrong on the economics. I think he’s right on the economics,” she said, referring to Pope Francis’s recent publication of an encyclical on the environment.

Release of the document earlier this month thrust the pontiff to the centre of the global debate on climate change, as he berated politicians for creating a system that serves wealthy countries at the expense of the poorest.

[biffvernon]

The Rap News version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRRCqr-REh4

[biffvernon]

As Pope Francis has told us, we have a moral obligation to be responsible stewards of the earth and all it supports. That means protecting future generations from the dangers of climate change.

I know the fossil fuel industry and its political cronies are saying the Pope's no expert on science.

Please.

The science speaks for itself. We know what's happening to the planet. The question is, what are we going to do about it? The Pope's an expert on belief and conscience. It's time to stand up for what we believe. The fact is climate change is a moral imperative.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/28/opini ... te-change/

[kenneal - lagger]

As Pope Francis has told us, we have a moral obligation to be responsible stewards of the earth and all it supports. That means protecting future generations from the dangers of climate change.

I know the fossil fuel industry and its political cronies are saying the Pope's no expert on science.

Please.

The science speaks for itself. We know what's happening to the planet. The question is, what are we going to do about it? The Pope's an expert on belief and conscience. It's time to stand up for what we believe. The fact is climate change is a moral imperative.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/28/opini ... te-change/

Could do with a like button!

[3rdRock]

Pope Francis and the Sundance Kid.

You've got to admit, it's got a nice ring to it.

[emordnilap]

I know the fossil fuel industry and its political cronies are saying the Pope's no expert on science.

Please.

Ah, good man RR.

[biffvernon]

And now the footballers are joining in:

Humanity 1: Climate Change 0 – winning the game of our lives

Pope Francis made a call to all human beings to put their hearts and their souls into fighting climate change. He made this request through a landmark encyclical letter. His letter stresses how we have a personal and collective responsibility to tackle such an alarming and urgent issue. The encyclical could not come at a more crucial time for our planet and the climate movement.

In December, governments will meet in Paris at the UN climate negotiations to sign a new, universal agreement that will limit global temperature rises to no more than 2 degrees Celsius. It is essential that they reach out and grab this opportunity with both hands and, in so doing, honor the promises that they have made already to reduce their emissions, including those agreements signed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

As a football player who has had the privilege of travelling the world throughout my career I had the opportunity on many occasions to witness the impact of climate change on people’s lives. In Brazil, my country of birth, we have seen how higher temperatures, drastic changes in rainfall, lower productivity and unexpected outbreaks of disease are impacting the poor. The Brazilian Panel on Climate Change (PBMC) has predicted that if present trends in greenhouse gas emissions continue, average temperatures in Brazil will be 3º-6ºC higher by 2100 than they were at the end of the 20th century.

We can witness such trends everywhere. As citizens of the world, and keepers of Mother Earth, “who feeds us and rules us”, in the words of Saint Francis, it is our sacred duty to help leaders make the right choice in Paris by demonstrating that we stand together in safeguarding God’s creation for future generations.

The scientific case to act on climate change is clear. But while the facts are important we must also act out of a desire to respect nature. There should be no difference between being a ‘Christian’ and being ‘green’ – they are both one and the same.

All of us can all make minor changes in our daily lives that, when added together, can help to address climate change on a global scale. We can bike to work or use public transport. We can reduce our use of electricity. But most of all, we can demand that our elected representatives take decisions that will create the global shift required, from all nations, to protect the earth.

Pope Francis encyclical, although aimed directly to Catholics, actually speaks out to everyone of us, regardless of religion or faith, as all of us live together in our common house. If tackling climate change were a football match, it would be the most important one I had ever played in. We need to play the game of our lives. For us, our children, and for their children. Let’s play as one united team against this strong opposition and let’s win.

http://newsroom.unfccc.int/unfccc-newsr ... te-change/

[biffvernon]

Here's Naomi Klein in the Vatican today:

http://theleap.thischangeseverything.or ... e-vatican/

[biffvernon]

The Pope, in a speech in Bolivia, called capitalism the dung of the Devil:

Time, my brothers and sisters, seems to be running out; we are not yet tearing one another apart, but we are tearing apart our common home. Today, the scientific community realizes what the poor have long told us: harm, perhaps irreversible harm, is being done to the ecosystem. The earth, entire peoples and individual persons are being brutally punished. And behind all this pain, death and destruction there is the stench of what Basil of Caesarea called “the dung of the devil”. An unfettered pursuit of money rules. The service of the common good is left behind. Once capital becomes an idol and guides people’s decisions, once greed for money presides over the entire socio-economic system, it ruins society, it condemns and enslaves men and women, it destroys human fraternity, it sets people against one another and, as we clearly see, it even puts at risk our common home.

The whole speech:
http://time.com/3952885/pope-francis-bo ... ranscript/

[Little John]

Okay, that is strong enough to make me want to read the rest of it.

[Little John]

He'd better f***ing mean it

[biffvernon]

My feeling is that he does mean it - but he is working within an intensely conservative institution and he will not find it easy.

[3rdRock]

My feeling is that he does mean it - but he is working within an intensely conservative institution and he will not find it easy.

You can say that again. He works for an institution that has condoned money laundering in the past and is known to have invested in many other dubious adventures.

It'll be hard to fight an organisation that's seen a 20-fold increase in earnings at a time when many of their worldwide congregation are suffering severe hardships.

See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32879571

The Vatican bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), has seen a sharp jump in its profits for 2014.

The bank earned €69.3m (£49m) last year, compared to just €2.9m in 2013, when it was hit by bad investments and clean-up costs.

[peaceful_life]

My feeling is that he does mean it - but he is working within an intensely conservative institution and he will not find it easy.

Whether he does or doesn't mean it, it , isn't bothered.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_an ... n_box.html

[biffvernon]

Money laundering? What about the Spanish inquisition and the suppression of the Cathars? The Catholic Church has a history with enough bad stuff to fill two millennia, but that doesn't mean that Pope Francis can't do a whole lot of good stuff if we give him half a chance.

(BTW, I'm not too bothered about the Church being stuffed full of treasure. That's just being a museum. Selling works of art and gold goblets doesn't achieve anything beyond transferring dusting and polishing responsibility.)