Kudos to Morano, CFACT and Heartland for their quickly organized and now apparently effective mission. Even with the heavy criticism received, the Vatican seems to have blinked.
Craig Rucker of CFACT writes:
‘According to Vaticanist Sandro Magister, Pope Francis has decided to postpone the publication of his long-awaited encyclical on the environment. The reason, according to Magister, is that the Pope realized that the document in its current state had no chance of receiving the approval of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under the leadership of Cardinal Gerhard Müller.’
Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga came out swinging against the delegation of climate realists that recently traveled to the Vatican and featured CFACT’s Marc Morano. Politico reports that, “the Pope’s closest adviser on Tuesday slammed climate-change skeptics, blaming capitalist motivations from ‘movements in the United States.’”
Crux reports that Cardinal Rodríguez said that environmentalism is “too tied to a capitalism that doesn’t want to stop ruining the environment because they don’t want to give up their profits.” Cardinal Rodriguez is an adherent of left-wing “liberation theology.”
Cardinalrating.com reports that he has likened global Capitalism to Nazism, declared a fence between the U.S. and Mexico to be comparable to the “Berlin Wall,” called for the complete “forgiveness” of the national debts of developing world nations, and called the American embargo of Cuba “ridiculous.”
Cardinal Rodriguez has been considered a papal candidate himself. “He is young enough, say many Vatican watchers, that he could be considered again.”
The Vatican needs take a hard, independent look at global warming science and ideology for itself and wake up to the reality that the warming campaign’s case is collapsing on its merits. Climate computer models have been wrong for the past 18 years and the weather is historically normal. The proposed solutions would enrich an elite few, but do nothing meaningful to alter the climate.
Capitalism and freedom have done more for the well-being of people and the planet than any other competing political-economic system.
Denying the world’s poor these crucial engines of opportunity, prosperity and human dignity, while starving them of energy, would be a tragic mistake.
History teaches us time and again that Socialism and the centralized planning that go with it are inefficient and cause great suffering.
Hopefully the Vatican is listening to loyal Catholics like Marc Morano and reassessing its position on the climate issue.
There is reason to be hopeful.
Word has it, according to Vaticanist Sandro Magister, Pope Francis has decided to postpone the publication of his long-awaited encyclical on the environment. The reason, according to Magister, is that the Pope realized that the document in its current state had no chance of receiving the approval of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under the leadership of Cardinal Gerhard Müller.
You can follow this breaking story on Climate Depot.
Does this mean there will be a change in tenor in the upcoming encyclical? Marc’s mission may have caught their attention?
Time will tell.
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This all literally gives me a headache (as in needing the application of some ASA).
I am really glad that the pope won’t damage his credibility by espousing bad science.
When Liberation Theology started it was in response to tin-pot dictators and warlords who were subjugating the population. The problem is that some folks conflate those conditions with capitalism. As we defend capitalism, we don’t want to look like we’re supporting the pigs who murdered Oscar Romero.
It’s complicated folks.
Not for liberation theologians. Here’s what Gutierrez, the founder of LT, has to say about capitalism and capitalists, milder than his acolytes. From Chapter Eight, “Statement of the Questions”, pg. 72:
“Although until recently the Church was closely linked to the established order, it is beginning to take a different attitude regarding the exploitation, oppression, and alienation which prevails in Latin America. This has caused concern among the beneficiaries and defenders of capitalist society, who no longer can depend on what used to be – whether consciously or unconsciously – one of their mainstays.”
His mainstay OTOH is Marxist class struggle.
Words are slippery and are misused by folks on every side of the issue.
The conditions that caused liberation theology were much much worse than those that caused the Boston Tea Party.
Conditions in some parts of Latin America were no doubt worse in some ways than in the North American colonies, but LT’s emphasis on attacking capitalism is totally misplaced. The oppressive oligarchs in Latin America could operate because of a lack of the middle class there which capitalism allowed to develop in North America.
Exactly so.
As a long time practicing conservative Catholic, physicist / engineer, I am well aware of the science and the “infallibility” doctrine. That doctrine is LIMITED to matters of “faith and morals” for members of the Church. That doctrine is even more heavily constrained by procedures specified in church law. It is HIGHLY unlikely any Pope would risk his liturgical authority and reputation of the church by making definitive statements about science…. especially being well aware of the history of science where the only enduring certainty is that reality eventually proves all theories false, flawed or limited.
The most telling part of this entire story is the impact of “liberation theology” on Christianity. Multiple Bishops have been excommunicated over the years due to this modern schism, driven by socialism. The core of Christianity is love, charity, compassion…. It is easy for socialists to lead the gullible to think “if only government would force people to…”
In this context, if only government would ‘make’ people do good re climate, maybe they can ‘make’ them be moral!
Obvious analog to the snake in the garden of Eden and the tree of all knowledge!
“Forced morality” has been recognized as oxymoronic since the days of the inquisition (actually since Augustine) and the Church has no intention of regressing!
I am glad “deniers” have preached the truth re the science, and served as the necessary counterweight to the “liberation theology” propaganda. If this has not been enough, count on an army of Catholic scientists like myself to join the battle.
As scientists, you all know reality always trumps theory, in the long run. Few institutions are more familiar with “the long run” than the Pope’s. …you can have “faith” in that!
Hope you’re right.
I used to think that the Roman Catholic Church had learned a lesson from the Galileo Affair, which led it to produce reasonable statements on evolution in the 20th century. We’ll see if the lesson is still being taken to heart in the 21st century era of politicized “science”.
Capitalism is like a tree. Trees shade out the grass and shrubs. So let’s cut down all the trees for a greener world.
/s
great analogy!
I imagine we are also awaiting from the Pope proclamations on string theory, geophysics and Cosmology as well.
Which is to say the world is waiting for the Pope to say something on this science because unlike other sciences, climate science is the only one self-indulgently swirling around in the toilet of politics. The only good thing that may come of this is watching the faces of greens as they back-pedal away from the Pope if his encyclical on climate is tepid.
From the “broken clock is right twice a day” column, the US restrictions against Cuba is ridiculous. Otherwise that Rodriguez is some seriously crazy left wing nutbag alright.
“…doesn’t want to stop ruining the environment because they don’t want to give up their profits.” Cardinal Rodriguez
=============================
How can a company afford to clean up the environment unless they make a profit? If you need to by a piece of equipment to make your plant cleaner, where does the money come from?
Lets say a factory need to add $100 million dollars to your plant to install scrubbers. Otherwise they will be shut down. Where are you going to get the money?
You can’t pay for it out of the companies savings (retained earnings), unless you made profits in the past that you could save.
The bank won’t lend you money, unless you are making a profit, and this profit is then used to pay off the loan over time.
You could issue bonds, but again unless you can make a profit to pay interest on the bonds, they are going to be worthless. No one will buy.
So in the end, your only choice is to sell stocks in the company, to give away part of the ownership. But again unless you are making a profit, or have retained earnings, the stocks will also be worthless.
So in the end, without profits you might as well just close the doors and sell the land and equipment and be free of the headache.
so, without profits, there is no way for the company.to clean-up the environment.
Well, said, and HEAR, HEAR, Ferd!
Every company that is involved with what can be cited as toxic to the environment should be required to place a percentage of revenue into a company fund for potential cleanup of the environment. These funds should be calculated before salary/stock options/any payments to the major officers of the company.
Try to sell that in the Middle East, or Africa.
The US has many laws in place to mitigate/eliminate toxic wastes and those laws carry penalties for either willful noncompliance, or accidental incident. The most toxic nations are either the poorest, and/or those ruled by some form of Socialist- derived, or other tyranny. Compliance with “requirements” imposed by governments inevitably and ultimately is insured by the use of force, which means men with guns.
Careful what you ask for…
The Democrats would just loot the funds and spend them on buying votes.
it is beginning to take a different attitude regarding the exploitation, oppression, and alienation which prevails in Latin America.
=======
the number 1 problem in Latin America is corruption. there is no incentive is a corrupt official can simply squeeze your earnings out of you.
the church is hardly innocent in this. they have been squeezing money out of people for centuries. give us your money or you will burn in hell. a protection racket in the name of god. what use has god of money? where does he/she/it spend it?
Now, Ferd (ahem!). Historically, this is true, but, to be fair…. Roman Catholics got rid of Indulgences and the like a loooong time ago. I, too, disagree with many of the tenets of that religion, but, its essentials are pure: Love God. Love your neighbor. Most of them do.
Roman (and Orthodox) Catholics did not get rid of indulgences. Granting indulgences is still a big part of Catholic doctrine and practice. The Roman rite did however stop the activity of “pardoners”, who sold indulgences.
God uses the money to help the poor.
I think it’s a better argument that corruption is a major problem everywhere.
“…..Two world-wide religions
Coming together,
But with different Gods,
Not quite birds of a feather;
One worships the real God
To which millions have prayed,
The other a false God,
The God of Man-Made…..”
Read more: http://wp.me/p3KQlH-K3
This topic reminds me of a joke that JFK used to tell his friends. Kennedy once asked his friend, Cardinal Spellman, if he actually believed the Pope was infallible. Spellman replied, “I don’t know, Jack. All I can tell you is that whenever I see him, he calls me ‘Spillman.'”
[SNIP – provide proof of your assertions/character assassination or refrain from commenting, you’ve racked up a few policy violations here, you may want to read the WUWT Site Policy page and heed it to prevent yourself from being banned. -mod]
The no.3 in the Vatican hierarchy, Cardinal George Pell (formerly of Sydney), is a forceful and articulate climate sceptic of long standing. According to him, in 2007 there was a meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at which no agreement could be reached. I would be surprised if the same is not the case in 2015. My guess is that the more Pope Francis consults within the Vatican and its closest advisors, the more he will encounter views on climate that are quite different to those of Cardinal Rodriguez. That should at least give him pause for thought.
God love George Cardinal Pell if he can stem this tide of BS.
Pell’s 2011 Annual GWPF Lecture is here:
http://www.thegwpf.org/images/stories/gwpf-reports/pell-2011_annual_gwpf_lecture_new.pdf
Crux 13 Feb 2015: “Pope Francis’ finance czar [Pell] today informed fellow members of the College of Cardinals that the Vatican has more than $1.5 billion in assets it didn’t previously know it possessed,”
Sounds as if he’s a better accountant than his predecessors, which bodes well for his analysis of the climate con game.
Risky Business’s Michael Bloomberg, Tom Steyer, Hank Paulson & Robert Rubin will be disappointed if it’s true:
Oct 2014: Columbia Journalism Review: Robert S. Eshelman: Has climate change become a business story?
The cost of brushing science aside
But something different happened in June. Another report, yes. Only this one was of a different character. It was called “Risky Business,” and the team that produced the analysis wasn’t at all like the other climate-change sages. It was co-chaired by A-list titans of American business and former government officials, including Michael Bloomberg, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer. With such headliners, media coverage wasn’t hard to come by…
The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times published stories ahead of the report’s release. Leading business publications, including Forbes, Fortune, and the International Business Times, ran high-profile articles on their websites the day of the press conference. Steven Mufson, an energy and finance reporter, wrote about it for The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times’ report ran in its Business section. Long-time economics correspondent John Ydstie covered the news for National Public Radio. The New York Times was one of the few publications to cover the event as a science story…
Business reporters, like political and economic elites, seem to have brought a degree of legitimacy to the climate-change story by putting it in terms that most anyone can understand—money…
***Environmental journalist Bud Ward of Yale Climate Connections: “I think it helps to move climate change off the science page, where it has been ghettoized.”…
http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/climate_change_risky_business.php
Steyer, Paulson and Rubin are all skilled at manipulating politicians for their own gain. If they had not talked Clinton in subverting controls on speculative investments, and neutering the CFTC, back in 1996 the whole investment banking nightmare of 2008 would have resulted in either a modest recession, or it might not have happened at all, They are clearly in it for their own gain, and very few people in business take their suggestions as a “good faith” advice. When they publish everyone knows to check for the hidden agenda.
Oh yeah, most business editors these days are morons, just watch CNBC with a serious investor and they will point out how laughable the whole thing is.
Tearing down the Glass-Steagall wall between mortgage lending and investment banking by itself wouldn’t have produced the financial crisis. The banking system was already heading that way. What made the crunch so hard was the subprime slime upon which Democrats insisted to vote for the banking “reform”.
Then Rubin promptly resigned from Treasury to hurry to Citibank to take advantage of the monstrosity he, Clinton, Dodd, Frank, et al had just created.
Paul Westhaver called it.
Thanks Max but credit goes to Marc Morano, Chris Monckton, Harold Doiron at Heartland, and of course Anthony Watts our host who took the correct approach and, appealing to the the angels our better nature, facilitated an awesome robust, and thoughtful, science-based rebuttal.
With the exception of a small few who wanted to focus on Galileo, the small group of skeptics politely appealed to the quiet majority of the Church hierarchy who see earth-worship as heresy, and the proponents of the green movement as socialists, and liberation theologists. We filled the gap of legitimacy that the conservative cardinals needed to rely upon to bring scientific critical mass to their theological objections. Also, you did it is a respectful and engaging way. It does not serve our interests as AGW skeptics to alienate ourselves from a large body of the planet’s population, some of whom constitute the scientific community.
BRAVO! Anthony! Absolutely brilliant.
Going forward we must endeavor to keep tapping the wedge in between the American &c onservative camp amongst the magisterium and the wacky liberation theologists that felt empowered by Francis’ election.
WUWT, Heartland Climate Depot Tom Quirk, Bob Tisdale, Eric. Judith, have all accomplished a great feat….
YOU HAVE BEEN HEARD, and that makes all the difference.
Predictions,
1) the Church will reel in any declarations about conclusive opinions on the climate and refer to ONGOING scientific examination, and resist any specific prescriptions for action.
2) I worried that the Church might support a UN TAX, but I am thinking that without the US public support that may not happen,
3) Now the leftists (especially in the media) will come out and scapegoat the Church as making another Galileo fiasco, undeservedly.
Actions:
Whether you are catholic or not, politely contact every parish office in the country and state the case that the green movement is the natural enemy of the Church, families and humanity. That custodianship for our planet does not require wealth redistribution by way of UN involvement.
Don’t expect the leftists to give up….imoira… you know.
Also, here is a news article from the EWTN news program “The World Over” seen by 10s of millions of people.
Heartland at the Vatican
If you want to see the impact of anti-capitalist movements, compare North and South Korea. Or compare Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
In Haiti, the “oppressors” were hunted down and slaughtered in a slave revolt. All the land was then split up among the masses. That sounds like a Communist utopia! But splitting up the land made farming inefficient, and the masses struggled to eke out their own subsistence. Brutal dictatorships and corruption have taken their toll as well. The environment has suffered, with many forests being clear-cut to provide “renewable fuel” for daily needs. The Dominican Republic is also very poor by international standards, and they have dealt with political instability and corruption. But compared to Haiti, DR is a paradise. DR has passable roads, they have developed their infrastructure and use of natural resources, including fossil fuels, rather than clear cutting every tree on the island.
But the leftists among us would have us belief that if we just followed the Haiti model and shared the wealth we too could live in peace, harmony, and shared abundance like Haiti.
Everyone, sit around the campfire, hold hands, and sing!!!
Maradiaga is a real piece of work, a chip off the old Latin American Jesuit block. A Che with a frock.
Bigger story is Pope’s #1 adviser Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez author of the now tabled climate report also authored a book, “Heal me with your mouth, The art of kissing,” published in 1995. Of the book, the publisher website says: “In these pages, the author stresses the importance of sustaining the kiss as much as affective love relationships, as well as teaches the reader to kiss better.” Fernandez himself writes: “I explain that this book was written based on my personal experience as the lives of the people kissing. In these pages I want to summarize the popular sentiment, what people feel when they think of a kiss, what mortals feel when kissing. For this reason I spoke at length with many people who have a lot of experience in this field, and also with many young people who learn to kiss their way. I have also consulted many books and I wanted to show how the poets speak of the kiss. So, in order to synthesize the immense richness of life came these pages in favor of the kiss, which I hope will help to kiss better, that you push to release a kiss in the best of your being.”
I understand Fernandez and Pachauri are going to collaborate on a novel that, if actually read, will increase global temperatures by 0.0001 C. It’s going to be called, “Return to Al Gore, Eh?”
The Wiki entry on Cardinal Muller is interesting. It includes this quote from a 2015 interview with the Cardinal:
“In an interview with La Croix in 2015 (English translation here), Cardinal Müller suggested a new area of work for the CDF [Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith]: theological architecture. The cardinal was asked how he viewed his role under Pope Francis, especially given that Benedict XVI was a theologian. “The arrival of a theologian like Benedict XVI in the chair of St. Peter was no doubt an exception,” Müller replied. “But John XXIII was not a professional theologian. Pope Francis is also more pastoral and our mission at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is to provide the theological structure of a pontificate.”
My interpretation of this is that the Cardinal doesn;t think that the Pope knows anything abut theology, and he views his mission at the CDF is to provide that.
What is that behind Mr Morano , it looks strangely like a large building …
oh no….. sorry, my mistake, I see it clearly now,…
10`s of thousands of tons of stone quarried from probably open quarries with the attendant spoil heaps teams of artisans needing toilet facilities, and the obvious iron making and casting plants and machinists making thousands of metal chisels and hammers, not to mention the mining for Gold , and Silver, and Copper, and Lead, Oh and the forest full of trees cut down for the timber work as well as the scaffolding. to think how many people were injured, maimed and died during its construction, or how many people made money off the back of the supply contracts
So I hope they are not too worried about a bit of modern environmental disruption, especially when it brings benefit to so many people, .just like it did in the past, so it shall in the future.
+1, Franziskus.
From south american slums to responsibility.
God blessed Youre jesuitic ways: shoulder your burden.
Admirations – Hans
Hope Francis doesn’t see himself as a latter day St. Francis, looking out for the birds of the air. The environazis massacre millions of birds and bats with their windmills, machines of death.
Cheers for Mr. Morano. He and his companions have achieved something very important. Thank you, Mr. Morano.
This communist pope is going to do a lot of harm to both the church and the world in his tenure.
The Vatican should have stayed out of this mess. There is no possible positive outcome for anyone involved.
May your God go with you!
The Roman Catholic Church moves very cautiously in areas where it lacks comfortable expertise. Recall when the theory of evolution came out, protestant churches we e up in arms. The Catholic church said nothing and let it ride and adjusted over time without making waves.
Looks like a repeat of tht history.
George,
Mainstream Protestant churches soon recognized the reality of evolution. Some cultish sects however resisted it then and now. Also, in the 19th century the Catholic Church might not have condemned evolution officially, but many prominent Catholics, especially in Catholic countries, did oppose it.
However, Gregor Mendel was a Catholic monk.
I am saddened, but not surprised at the Cardinal’s diatribe against capitalism driving environmental destruction – has he never heard of the Kyshtym disaster in the Soviet Urals? A quick scan of Wikipedia should give him all he needs to know about the environment under Socialism – contrast that with 3 Mile Island and tell me who’s the better steward of the environment.
Taylor
yes, sturgishopper.
‘Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
____
Are ye not much better
than they?’
____
just asking.
The birds feed themselves off the bounty of nature, as did our hunting and gathering ancestors. (I also plant flowers for the hummingbirds.) If you wish to thank God for this bounty, please feel free. However seven billion people can’t survive without sowing, reaping and gathering into barns. And burning the fossil fuels that the haters of humanity want to ban. I hope Francis doesn’t heed their demonic calls.