Posted on 12/30/2014 5:11:40 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Pope Francis continues his groundbreaking progressive approach to Catholicism with plans to expand next year on one of his favorite causes: climate change and protecting the environment. The pope is expected to make climate change a large part of his leadership efforts throughout 2015, according to ThinkProgress.org, using the papacy to encourage the 1.2 billion Catholics to protect the environment as “God’s creation.”
Pope Francis has even gone as far as to call the destruction of the rainforest a sin, and cautioned Catholics and non-Catholics alike that protecting the environment is a sacred matter, going as far as back as his inaugural mass in 2013.
“The vocation of being a ‘protector,’ however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live.”
Under Pope Francis’ leadership in 2014, the Catholic Church held a five-day summit with scientists and experts on the environment, and the Pope already has plans in place to address the New York general assembly next September regarding climate change and general environmental issues. Pope Francis will also attend The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change global meeting in Paris at the end of 2015.
Taking further action related to the operations of the Catholic Church, the pope will be drafting a formal letter to all Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church, called an encyclical, specifically addressing climate change.
Dan Misleh, director of the Catholic climate covenant, told The Guardian these letters are rare and uses Pope Francis’ highest level of authority in creating the document, expected to be somewhere around 50-60 pages long. But the pope can expect some push-back from other church members as well as evangelical groups and even member of Congress.
“There will always be 5-10 percent of people who will take offense,” Misleh told The Guardian. “They are very vocal and have political clout. This encyclical will threaten some people and bring joy to others. The arguments are around economics and science rather than morality.”
Pope Francis has distinguished himself from previous popes in his progressive views on such topics as evolution, homosexuality, and politics within the Vatican. These views, as well as the pope’s humility and his example of leading a far less lavish lifestyle than previous popes, have made him very popular among non-Catholics as well as members of his own church.
Do you agree with Pope Francis that harming the environment is a “sin?”
The pope sees a massive attack coming from the left. This is purely a political maneuver. The
Pope Is not a scientist and therefore should be ignored in these matters. I seriously doubt God will block anyone from the gates of heaven for not paying carbon credits to Al Gore!
The Pope IS a massive attack coming from the left. FIFY.
Of course there are not 66 books—there are many ways of counting them, but 73 is the number to be preferred if one likes numbers on the large side. (Though 72 is a much nicer number, so treating either Baruch or Lamentations as an appendix to Jeremiah is what is to be expected).
There was still debate among the Rabbis concerning what books rendered the hands unclean well into the Christian era.
If Jesus is the one foretold in Deuteronomy 18:15-18, then the initial followers of Jesus in fact completed the written revelation, with the four Gospels being in fact the Supreme Revelation, and the Holy Torah being a foreshadowing of what is to come. If He is the one foretold, then those Jews who followed Him, and initially joined His followers (the evangelization was initially centred in Jerusalem, then went out to Judea and Samaria, then to the Diaspora, and only at that stage did it begin to reach out to G_d fearers), are the heirs of Abraham in all fullness, and those rejecting them lack the fullness of Revelation.
Of course, if He is not the one foretold, then those who follow him are deluded, if unwitting, blasphemers. However, if Jesus is not the one foretold, there are still a number of loose ends to be tied up that the Holy Torah raises, but does not see fulfilled, leaving things somehow incomplete. Man is given five commands in Genesis 1:28, and while the children of Abraham have fulfilled three of them by Exodus 1:7, two are still unfulfilled at the end of Deuteronomy, though Balaam prophesies that one of them will be fulfilled. Genesis 3:15 is a great promise. Abram receives three promises in Genesis 12:1-3, and only one has been fulfilled by the end of Deuteronomy, though the second is in sight.
To those who see the Torah as the Supreme Revelation, Matthew 5:17-18 is a great affront—though it simultaneously affirms a great value for the Torah. “Think not that I have come to abolish the Torah and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Torah until all is accomplished.
Discuss the issues, do not make it personal
Another John Fisher, Thomas More, Teresa of Avila, Philip Neri, Francis De Sales, Francis Xavier, John of the Corss, Cure of Ars, Lawrence of Brindisi, Bruno, Bernard, and Dominic—and even another true Francis (Padre Pio anyone?) yes—another Luther—I’ll pass.
Thoughtful response.
Wishing you fruitful studies!
However, if you want to go the very blunt and non-Canonized route, perhaps we could settle for another Paul IV? (and that is IV not VI)
So I guess the pope s gonna demand all Catholic Churches turn off their air conditioners this summer. And he better start flying coach, ommercial. M of the people, dontcha know.
“Do you agree with Pope Francis that harming the environment is a ‘sin?’”
I have no idea what all the uproar is about. Even if it is a sin, it certainly is not a mortal sin, is it?
It seems to me, no one has to change anything they are doing, so long as they confess it. “Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. I’ve contributed to global warming.”
Then Monday evening you can fire up the grill with a peaceful heart.
There would seem to be a difference between throwing a pop can out the window and deliberately setting a forest on fire. Throwing Peanuts in the creek is an entirely different manner (punchline to an old joke).
Maybe I missed it, but has God stated what the ideal temperature range for earth is? Has ANYONE provided any basis for an optimum range??
All over the world, Bergoglio is directly intervening in the process of selecting bishops, ignoring the candidates recommended by the nuncios (who don’t actually have such a good record). According to reports, Bergoglio is reaching into the ranks and picking “terrible” priests to be appointed bishops, especially in the Spanish-speaking world. Cupich, a pal of Wuerl, O’Malley, Dolan (the pro-abortion axis in the American Church), was such a choice. Cupich is just the latest addition to the powerful pro-abortion majority among the American bishops. Only about twelve American don’t give Communion to pro-aborts.
Pray for a new Pope—SOON.
Right on, dude, you do that... :)
I have imagined and could write and deliver a sermon decrying as sinful the failure to drill in ANWR and the ass-dragging on the Keystone pipeline. These acts are wasteful of what God has given us. My Scripture would include Matthew 25:14-30 (the Parable of the Talents).
And who opened those windows? John XXIII and Paul VI himself.
Well, sure, a few thousand more groups each with their own interpretation of Scripture and little hangups is just what the already fragmented, infighting, intimidated, cowering, "let someone else do it", crowd inside and outside of the Catholic Church needs to set everything aright.
And a Thirty Years War to go with it that results in the nobility in each State having the right to dictate the religion of all the people in each State along with the right to hunt down heretics within the boundaries of each State that doesn't agree with the decision of the Nobles.
Why, we could establish a whole Jim Crow sort of system based on whether or not you were a member of the proper Church rather than something shallow like skin color. Shove whoever isn't in the proper group into ghettos and wall the suckers in.
Great idea !!! An idea that displays a surprising lack of knowledge regarding the relevant history and plays right into the hands of the "divide and conquer" secularist strategy, but what the heck, this country runs on lies, myths, and economic bubbles, so how important can history be?
Forgive Me, Father
A grade school chaplain once heard the confessions of eight-year old pupils. Many of the boys had very minor and almost inconsequential misdeeds so the priest was rather happy. One group of youngsters though confessed similar sin. One said, “Father forgive me, I threw peanuts into the river.” Another admitted, “Father forgive me, I threw peanuts into the river.” The third and the fourth also confessed, “Father forgive me, I threw peanuts into the river.”
The priest was intrigued but a little alarmed so he cautioned the boys not to be too hard on themselves. “Throwing peanuts into the river is not really a sin.” He would have asked one of the nuns in charge of the catechism to find out how they teach the doctrine of venial and mortal sins to these young kids when a sulking and chubby kid approached him. The priest warned him, “Don’t tell me you also threw peanuts into the river?”
The kid was surprised and looked up at him and said, “Father, I AM Peanuts!”
It is SO good to see Catholics fight amongst themselves for a change!
The Green movement is simply a post-Christian paganism so that people with mutliple divorces and abortions under their belts can still pretend they are “good”.
The Pope is pushing the Church even further into irrelevance; this is the type of nonsense that the religious sisters were getting involved with.
I couldn’t believe how few people were at Mass this past Christmas; not too long ago (not even ten years) we were giving up our seats and standing in the back...
Say what??
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