Pope Francis •

Environment Issues Discussed in Pope Francis’ Encyclical

As soon as he was installed in his pontiff chair, Pope Francis made it very clear that environmental issues will be a top priority during his mandate, and he is now following up on that promise. This week, the Pope started drafting the long-awaited encyclical on the issue of climate change.

As expected, environmentalists all around the world are excited about the Pope adopting their cause, unlike skeptics of global warming who accuse him of using his moral influence to fuel radical environment propaganda.

Francis expects the document to be drafted in time for the U.N. climate talks in Paris, which will take place at the end of the year. Even though encyclicals are drafted under the utmost secrecy and few advisors participate, the Pope has leaked a few hints about the subject of the document. Here are a few things you should know about the encyclical before its release.

Pope Francis is not the first to put his moral weight to good use concerning in the environment issues: Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, his predecessors, both considered them as a matter of aiding the poor and protecting the common goods.

Catholics under John Paul II were deemed to have a moral duty of preserving God’s creation and stopping damaging practices. Benedict, also known as the “the Green Pope”, was a fighter for bringing solar power to the Vatican city-state. Also, all three pontiffs are strong advocates for conserving the “culture of life”, consisting of an intense fight against abortion.

Francis stated on multiple occasions that climate change is a very real phenomenon for which humans are mostly at fault; “it is man who has slapped nature in the face”. However, his encyclical will not consist of scientific proof or documentation on the matter, for the issue is not an easy one to approach.

Pope Francis is not the only religious figure concerned about the environment. Almost every major religion has had a high regard and top priority for saving the natural world. Ergo, solar panels appeared on places of worship and forestation initiatives rose all around the globe, holding religious teachings as motive.

The most recent update states that the Pope has set March apart for reviewing all the suggestions he has received and finishing the encyclical, as he is the sole author of the document. It will later be translated into several languages and released somewhere around June or July.
Image Source: World Religion News

In 2015, Pope Francis is Set to Fight Global Warming

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This year, Pope Francis is set to give it a go in fighting global warming and make the Catholics aware of the threat that climate change poses to poorer nations. To accomplish his goals, the pontiff plans to co-opt all his bishops, pull some strings into the UN general assembly and invite all world religious leaders to a global summit.

Pope Francis would do all these during one year because he is determined to get a positive result for our planet in the major climate change meeting scheduled to take place in Paris in December.

The first step towards reaching his ambitious goals would be a lengthy message addressed to all Catholic bishops and their subordinate priests urging them to raise awareness on climate change among their parishioners. The message would be composed as a papal encyclical and it is expected to reach the hearths and minds of nearly 1.2 billion Catholics across the globe.

Dan Misleh, chief of the Catholic Climate Covenant, said that the pope would certainly face a strong opposition from a small group of people who are being very vocal since they are backed up by the polluting industry and covered by politicians. Mr. Misleh also said that the encyclical would bring arguments “around economics and science, rather than morality.”

This might have something to do with the fact that the pontiff has a Master’s Degree in Chemistry and thus has an insider’s view on how greenhouse gases increase world temperatures.

“A papal encyclical is rare. It is among the highest levels of a pope’s authority. It will be 50 to 60 pages long; it’s a big deal. But there is a contingent of Catholics here who say he should not be getting involved in political issues, that he is outside his expertise,”

Mr. Misleh also said.

Bishop Marcelo Sorondo said that despite all opposition and criticism the pope should make his moves without second thoughts since the stakes are high and time is very short. In December, during the Paris summit, world’s political leaders plan to reach a final agreement on cutting down emissions after 20 years of sterile debates and procrastination.

Bishop Sorondo also emphasized the importance of a general religious summit until then. Such meeting would aim at convincing leaders of the main religions to raise awareness in their countries about the state of our climate and its footprint on poorer communities.

World Health Organization (WHO) released in August a report showing that between 2030 and 2050 poor countries would count about 250.000 deaths per year related to climate change. In those countries, people would die from by-products of global warming such as malnutrition, heat stress, malaria and diarrhoea, WHO experts warned.

Image Source: Huffington Post

Pope Francis Visits Turkey to Encourage Muslims to Stand Against Terrorism

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Pope Francis has condemned the Islamic State recent assault against Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq. He is now in Turkey trying to convince the Muslim leaders to stand against extremists and terrorists, who take, in the name of their religious views, are killing many.

Pope Francis arrived today in Turkey and met with officials in the Ankara to discuss the current state of Islamic extremists. This is the second visit to the Middle East that Pope Francis has made this year trying to make things right. Pope Francis said that military force was perfectly justified to stop the extremists from advancing and further hurt the innocent. The Pope also tries to impose peaceful tactics, like a dialogue between Muslims and Christians and other faiths, in order to put an end to fundamentalism.

Pope Francis spoke to the Turkish officials saying:

“Fanaticism and fundamentalism, as well as irrational fears which foster misunderstanding and discrimination, need to be countered by the solidarity of all believers.”

Pope Francis held his speech at the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presidential palace.
Pope Francis praised Turkey’s recent welcoming of more than 1,6 million refugees from troubled countries and said that the international communities are morally obliged to help Turkey and Ankara take care of them.

Pope Francis will be staying in Turkey for three days and will try to assist the Muslim communities in responding to the Islamic State advance. The US are urging them to engage in fighting the extremists.
Turkey has blamed the Islamic extremists of irrevocably damaging the meaning of Islam and said that Muslim countries must stand against the radical and dangerous views of the fundamentalist groups of terrorists.

Turkey is still n negotiations with the US over contributing and helping the coalition against the extremists. Turkey wants as safe haven with a no-fly zone along the borders with Syria and said that it also wants the coalition go after the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Pope Francis said that:

“My wish is that Turkey, which is a natural bridge between the two continents, is not just a point of intersection, but at the same time a point where men and women belonging to all cultures, ethnicity and religion live together in dialogue.”

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