Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan (second to Pope Francis's right).
Posted on 02/25/2020 2:53:10 PM PST by ebb tide
Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan (second to Pope Francis's right).
ROME, February 25, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis’s Global Education Pact is a golden opportunity to use the moral authority of the Catholic Church to institute “cradle to grave climate literacy” for children as young as pre-kindergarten, a prominent member of the Vatican’s Academy of Sciences has said.
Speaking at a Vatican workshop on the Global Education Pact, hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) on February 6–7, Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, director of the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, said the American public is not giving climate scientists and activists the “strong, unequivocal public support” they need to make “drastic changes” in society.
“We have tried everything, and nothing is working,” Dr. Ramanathan admitted. He said, “What we need is societal transformation to garner such support,” adding that “education is a tool to make that transformation.”
Dr. Ramanathan, 74, was appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences under the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. He said he has come to the conclusion through attending PAS meetings that “the quest for a sustainable planet and for a sustainable humanity must include cradle to grave climate literacy for everyone, including children in kindergarten, students in colleges, and adults all the way to senior citizens.”
In his talk, titled “Climate Change, Wellness and Education,” Dr. Ramanathan outlined one such cradle-to-grave education program called “Bending the Curve: Climate Solutions,” which he developed with academics and researchers at the University of California. The program, funded by the Gates Foundation, has been used to promote “climate literacy” among children pre-K to 12 in California and focuses on “solutions rather than science.”
He also said he is “already in discussion” with U.S. Catholic clergy, such as Bishop McElroy of San Diego, and is about to launch a new “education project” that “could be used by bishops and priests” to promote climate literacy among Catholics.
Dr. Ramanathan said he believes that having the Catholic Church’s support is key to advancing a “moral revolution” on climate change. “The transformational step may well be a massive mobilization of public opinion by the Vatican and other religions for collective action to safeguard the well-being of both humanity and the environment.”
In comments to LifeSite following his presentation at the Global Education Pact workshop, Dr. Ramanathan also said he believes that Pope Francis has a particularly pivotal role to play in advancing this revolution. “Pope Benedict was very supportive of the environment,” he said, “but after Pope Francis [was elected], when I briefed him, I told him that he had become a modern leader for the whole world — to Catholics but beyond.”
“I saw in this a great opportunity, because the climate change issue has become a moral issue,” Dr. Ramanathan continued. “After the 2014 [PAS] meeting on Sustainable Humanity, Sustainable Nature: Our Responsibility, we all went and met Pope Francis in the parking lot outside the Casa Santa Marta. I told him about the morality of this issue, that most of the pollution which is causing climate change is caused by the wealthiest one billion people. And then I told him there were three billion who had not even discovered fossil fuels and they are still living in seventeenth-century technologies and they would be seriously impacted by this.”
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Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan meets with the pope. Photo: University of California / YouTube
The climate scientist noted that six or seven months later, Pope Francis published Laudato Si’. There, he said, “Pope Francis has a famous sentence. He says: the cry of the earth should be heard with the cry of the poor. So, you see, he linked environmental justice — that’s the ‘cry of the earth’ — with social justice, which is the ‘cry of the poor.’”
“That’s why now I work with faith communities and religious communities,” Dr. Ramanathan explained. “As a scientist, I have no authority to talk about moral issues. But faith leaders like Pope Francis have the authority.”
Particularly with the American public, “scientists like me need a way to talk to the people directly, outside politics,” Dr. Ramanathan said. “I find the most effective way to do that is to talk to the priests, the bishops, faith leaders,” he added.
In addition to his collaboration with Bishop McElroy of San Diego, Dr. Ramanathan said he is also working closely with Richard Miller at the Jesuit-run Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and with Villanova University in Pennsylvania.
Asked to comment further on the importance of the Catholic Church’s moral authority on climate issues, Dr. Ramanathan said he didn’t wish to sound “American-superior” but believes that the participation of America is key to solving the problem. “It would be nice if American Catholic churches would take the pope’s [words] to a higher class,” he said.
Dr. Ramanathan told LifeSite he sees his role as “trying to take climate change out of politics.”
“I have found churches to be that non-political forum. Because both conservatives and liberals go to the same church. There’s no liberal church and no conservative church. That is why I find the key to solving the problem is for academics to form alliances with religions,” he said.
Pressed on whether he thinks overzealous climate activists are using scare tactics to turn children into political activists, also through education, the longtime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences said he believes “we are sending our children on a plane that’s going to crash if we don’t do anything” about climate change. “In some way they have to know the reality,” he said, “but if you’ve paralyzed them, then you’ve done more damage.”
Ping
How many kids got molested by priests today?
The Church has no moral authority if it is not God’s Truth.
The rcc has no moral authority over anyone.
So a priest, a boy scout leader, a female teacher and a Penn State recruiter all walk into a kid...
So, with Global Warming the Catholic Church is once again touting its knowledge of science. I seem to recall that the last time they did that, they were demanding that we accept that the sun revolves around the Earth. Sorry, no deal this time, either.
They need to stick to something they know something about, like pedophilia. Their great moral authority could do some real good there.
I’m afraid that with me, their science account is about as overdrawn as their moral authority account.
I don't know. How many kids have you molested today?
Where was the church’s moral authority when they enabled and covered up that a million kids were being molested by priests. How many decades did they let that go on by not removing the priest perps?
Moral authoeity my ass.
How about the Virginia governor allowing children who are born to be murdered?
I’m sure there must be some verses in the New Testament or in the Apostolic Fathers about the moral imperative to fight against climate change, but I can’t remember what they are.
I hope so because they ain’t got no moral authority!
This heretic pope can’t say anything to this Catholic I’ll believe!
Go pound false Pope!!!
You keep using that phrase “moral authority.”
I do not think it means what you think it means.
By convincing hundreds of millions that its a sin if you don’t believe this crap.
This is not dogma or doctrine. As a practicing Catholic I am not forced or expected to believe in man made global warming.
People seem to think any thing any pope, bishop or priest says is dogma. Not so, not so.
They all thought he would go along with the Amazon Synod, but he didn’t.
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