(Via Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has decided to set up a “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation” which will be celebrated on September 1st annually.
He made the announcement in a letter to the heads of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.
While the words’ “global warming” and “climate change” aren’t specifically mentioned in the text, the purpose seems clear in the context of his recent encyclical when they say “the future of creation”. Something that Dr. James Hansen has touched on in a 2009 presentation “Climate Threat to Creation: Implications for Intergenerational Equity and Justice“. and also in 2007 with “An Opportunity to Lead the Nation in Stewardship of the Earth and Creation“. The language here seems very similar and the mention of the Encylical Letter. Laudato Si, 7-9 removes any doubt.
My view: God helps those who help themselves. If the planet is going to hell in a handbasket as they claim, praying about it won’t do much good.
Below in English is Pope Francis’ letter announcing the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation”
To my Venerable Brothers
Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah TURKSON, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
Cardinal Kurt KOCH, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity
Sharing with my beloved brother the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew his concerns for the future of creation (cfr Encylical Letter. Laudato Si, 7-9) and taking up the suggestion by his representative, the Metropolitan Ioannis of Pergamum who took part in the presentation of the Encyclical Laudato Si on the care of our common home, I wish to inform you that I have decided to set up also in the Catholic Church, the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation” which, beginning this year, will be celebrated on the 1st of September, as the Orthodox Church has done for some time now.
As Christians we wish to offer our contribution towards overcoming the ecological crisis which humanity is living through. Therefore, first of all we must draw from our rich spiritual heritage the reasons which feed our passion for the care of creation, always remembering that for believers in Jesus Christ, the Word of God who became man for us, “the life of the spirit is not dissociated from the body or from nature or from worldly realities, but lived in and with them, in communion with all that surrounds us.” (ibid., 216). The ecological crisis therefore calls us to a profound spiritual conversion: Christians are called to “an ecological conversion whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them.” (ibid., 217). Thus, “living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.”(ibid).
The annual World Day of prayer for the Care of Creation offers to individual believers and to the community a precious opportunity to renew our personal participation in this vocation as custodians of creation, raising to God our thanks for the marvellous works that He has entrusted to our care, invoking his help for the protection of creation and his mercy for the sins committed against the world in which we live. The celebration of the Day on the same date as the Orthodox Church will be a valuable opportunity to bear witness to our growing communion with our orthodox brothers. We live in a time where all Christians are faced with identical and important challenges and we must give common replies to these in order to appear more credible and effective. Therefore it is my hope that this Day can involve, in some way, other Churches and ecclesial Communities and be celebrated in union with the initiatives that the World Council of Churches is promoting on this issue.
Cardinal Turkson, as President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, I asking you to inform the Justice and Peace Commissions of the Bishops’ Conferences, as well as the national and international Organizations involved in environmental issues about the establishment of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, so that in union with the needs and the local situation , this celebration can be rightly marked with the participation of the entire People of God: priests, men and women religious and the lay faithful. For this reason, it will be the task of this Dicastery, in collaboration with the Episcopal Conferences to set up relevant initiatives to promote and illustrate this Day, so that this annual celebration becomes a powerful moment of prayer, reflection, conversion and the adoption of appropriate life styles.
Cardinal Koch, as President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, I’m asking you to make the necessary contacts with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and with the other ecumenical organisations so that this World Day can become the sign of a path along all believers in Christ walk together. It will also be your Dicastery’s task to take care of the coordination with similar initiatives set up by the World Council of Churches.
Whilst I look forward to the widest possible cooperation for the best start and development of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, I invoke the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God and of St. Francis of Assisi, whose Canticle of the Creatures inspires so many men and women of goodwill to live in praise of the Creator and with respect for creation. I support this pledge along with my Apostolic Blessing which I impart with all my heart to you, my dear Cardinals, and to all those who collaborate in your ministry.
From the Vatican, 6th August 2015
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So, is that the day the Vatican is going to divest itself of oil company stocks?
To the Dear Leader of the Roman Catholic Church,
Adversus solem ne loquitor.
John
And another bit of advice for Il Duce: Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere
Dominus vobiscum to that.
Pope blows it again, September 1st is already a day of national pray, the start of hunting season.
i suppose I too could spare a prayer, may god protect and deliver me from the mendacity of do-gooders.
however is there is/are god/s seems to me they already have Al Gores number.
This Catholic Pope is horning in on Big Al’s racket.
Professional Jealousy?
if there is…
This shows what a failure Earth Day has been.
The pope is a fantasy writer.
What has been written is the introduction to his latest fantasy novel.
Was it really necessary to reproduce the original letter? The title itself was enough to gag on. At least give some warning like “The following may cause extreme gastronomic expulsion”.
So what the pope is saying is that the God that created Heaven and Earth, Parted the Red Sea, flooded the earth, was involved in countless miracles, and to Christians had his only begotten son be crucified, died, and be buried, and only to rise again to save mankind, is not capable of creating a system that can handle the increase of 1 molecule of co2 out of 10000 molecules of air over a 100 year period. His very stance on this re-enforces and likely to the delight of many, that the whole concept of God is a big fairy tale. As so often happens, it is dark forces from within that destroy what is meant to be good. If the concept of God is beyond belief, I can understand why people would think that. What I cant understand is how this pope doesnt see how he is undermining his church’s own teaching. Is, or is not God all powerful, and did, or did he not give man dominion over the earth. If so then the fact that global progress has skyrockets in the fossil fuel era, the geological time record shows no linkage between co2 and temp speaks volumes as to the deception that has engulfed the catholic church.
Joe,
I have read a great deal of your work over the years. I know that you care about this earth. I know that you would never pour motor oil down a street drain, release a tide of arsenic into a river or burn down a forest. I know that you wish well for this earth.
I think that you and me and most of us agree with the pope that we wish well for the earth on matters of stewardship.
I will pray for this beautiful gift of ours and I will do my best to keep it beautiful for my children. I know that you may do so as well Joe.
I will not ask God to do the absurd. I will not ask the maker of all things to act against his own design and rid us of CO2, a plant food, the basis of human life. I will not ask God to save us from global warming since it has been the warming of the globe since the last ice age which has contributed to the gift of life. I will not ask God to help the people who hate human life to advance population control measures and harm the poor people in the 3rd world. I will not ask God to advance the interests of socialism.
It is appropriate for the world’s religious to pray for our benefit, whether it manifests or not.
Inside the mess of the intent of the encyclical is both good and profound error. Pollution is bad. OK. But CO2 is not a pollutant.
I believe that this great earth is perfect and that, overall, humanity, via everyday use, can’t harm earth. Nuclear warfare is another thing.
I will pray (I really will) that God’s will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. I do not know what constitutes the will of God. nevertheless, His will be done.
Well most of the encyclical is great. I am curious as to how some of the popes new friends are reacting to other parts, oh lets see, how about the veneration of Mary, or some of the other stances that to most of us that still believe the Catholic Church is part of Gods plan to spread his word, take so seriously, but they laugh at. Look the road to hell is paved with good intention. There have been many popes that instead of focusing on God focus on the waves around them, the problems of the world and try to solve them. This ranks up with some of the profound missteps that have led to the schism in the original church, which by the way I think overall is a good thing since it begat many sects of Christianity that reach for God above with a grassroots fervor that does not come from top down dictation. I have shown 2 charts which renders the papacy defenseless, the hockey sticks of progress in the fossil fuel age and the factual record of co2 vs temps over the last 10k years. I thing William Briggs idea that they may be doing this to gain “relevance” with many younger, now brainwashed people, has validity. In any case I dont believe this decision is with both feet in the city of heaven, but instead made with one foot in the city of man.
Joe,
I see that you also perceive shades of gray smear in all of this. The organism that concocted this horrendous mess is the UN and I think Francis may see evangelization opportunities in the disaffected greens in the city of man. And! there are creepy hangers on ie, the Malthusians and the Liberation Theologists who find kinship in the Francis brand of stained glass. 85% of the encyclical is, like you said, pretty good and is absolutely an affront to the leftists. They will drop Francis at the first opportunity, AFTER, they get what they want and at the first sign of resistance on population control. Cheers.
If He fails we still have Allah.
It is tactless to remind His Holiness of a geological time. His world is only 4,000+ years old.
Nope. The Church invented, acknowledges and advances the Big Bang Theory, invented by Father Georges Henri LeMaitre PhD (physics) in 1923 which places the modern universe at ~13.5 billion years old.
That is not true. The church’s position is that time as we see it and God sees it can not be discerned. We are finite men, seeking to define the infinite. None of us know the mind of God and the story of the creation is certainly open to debate as to exactly a “day” was given that before all this, there was no day, nor anyone to observe it. I am openly critical of the pope on this, much of the reason having to do with his ignoring of faithful that have another opinion in making his decision, but there is no reason to pile on. Let todays troubles suffice
Joe, Check out Robert Spitzer’s SJ presentations on creation and the Borde Vilenkin & Guth theorem. It is refreshing to see a competent polymath like Spitzer doing his thing.
If God answers prayers surely he will answer the pope’s prayers. So I think climate change mitigation is as simple as a prayer. If the pope is serious about climate change all he has to do is pray.
yup
Well, that was easy; Scorched earth and boiling seas, averted…. NEXT….
Thanks for publicly advocating reason and facts Mr. Bastardi. Although I know the risk is real, we need more scientists and public figures to do the same.
What kind of dope to they smoke to choose the Pope. It must have been quite a smoke fest as considering how long the smoke rose from the chimney. Is he chosen by the principle of “the last man standing” or the only one not yet OD’ed?
I’ve heard that the wine cellar at the Vatican is pretty amazing …
Pope Francis is just as narrow minded and dogmatic as predessors who persecuted Galileo! The mainstream climate scientists are rubbing their hands with glee at the unscientific gobbldigook the pope believes!
This Pope has made the same error as those in the Church who persecuted Galileo – not by being anti-science, but by accepting as spiritual truth the reigning scientific consensus.
The Bible does not call on Christians to be anti-science, but to be skeptical of those who believe science demonstrates that there is no God:
1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith.
SR
Ah, but the Pope has followed the findings of modern day Galileos.
When Galileo found new evidence through the use of the telescope, he proposed new hypotheses which were confirmed by further research. And as modern day scientists have found evidence of Man-caused Climate Change, they formulated new hypotheses which were subsequently confirmed by further research.
In Galileo’s day some rejected the new findings because they contradicted preconceived notions of the physical world –just as those on WUWT reject the findings of modern day science because they cannot grasp the idea that man’s burning of fossil fuels is warming the climate.
As the medieval thinkers died out, they were replaced by those who embraced Galileo’s work. Just as today’s reactionaries will also be replaced by a younger generation, of which 80% today accept AGW.
I’m sure that Galileo once said the same thing as many are saying now: ‘Good riddance to the old f**ts!’
Actually there was no scientific consensus that reigned in Galileo’s time that contradicted Galileo. He was the scientific consensus. The church was not following anything “scientific” at all.
What they are doing now is the opposite of in Galileo’s time; they are going with the scientific consensus.
The poor US Catholics: they are told “no abortion” (vote GOper) and “no warming” (vote Dem).
trafamadore says:
Actually there was no scientific consensus that reigned in Galileo’s time that contradicted Galileo. He was the scientific consensus.
Read, and learn something.
@ur momisugly warrenlb,
You think you’ll out- live us old f**ts ?
The only reason you can even make such a comment is because you are not forced to speak German or Japanese, but feel free to enlighten us anyway.
warrenlb says:
…those on WUWT reject the findings of modern day science because they cannot grasp the idea that man’s burning of fossil fuels is warming the climate.
If I had a dollar for every baseless assertion like that emitted by warrenlb, I’d probably be retired on the beach in Tahiti.
For years I have asked warrenlb and others to simply post a verifiable measurement quantifying just how much “man’s burning of fossil fuels is warming the climate.”
Response: *crickets*
In other words, warrenlb’s entire argument is composed of baseless assertions like that. I have no doubt that he believes in MMGW. But on this “Best Science” site, it’s “Put up or shut up.” warrenlb’s baseless assertions and appeals to authority are amusing, but by themselves they are completely unconvincing. We need measurements quantifying MMGW. We need that data.
But warrenlb has yet to put up a single measurement quantifying MMGW. His religious belief in MMGW is like the Pope’s, except the Pope admits his belief is based on faith, not on scientific measurements — while warrenlb pretends he understands science. Of course, he doesn’t; he can’t ‘put up’ any measurable evidence, because he has none.
Like the skeptical scientists of today, Galileo was persectued for going against the people who controlled the academy, publishing, and the courts. And like today, there was good money, praises and awards to be had for going along with the consensus.
It’s an absurd notion that an increase in tiny fraction of 1% of the atmospheric CO2 will destroy the planet. And the data agrees. CO2 levels have been wildly higher in the past, but none of the catastrophies they prophesy now occurred.
In fact, ardent Communists have admitted that the Green movement is a fraud designed to overthrow Capitalism, and that to explains why they use slander, lawsuits, persecution and fraud to advance the cause. That’s not empirical science. That’s political science.
can’t someone just tell him he is wrong
Yes. Many of us have written many letters telling him that the UN’s position regarding CO2 is flawed. I urge you to do the same.
I just watched Michael Mann interviewed on Real Time by Bill Maher. Sickening lack of serious questions, sickening “consensus” lies, same old BS. Mann said that Germany is doing GREAT with solar and wind and actually getting 30% of it’s energy from renewables. “We still have time to save the earth” says Mann. “The biggest carbon polluters are China and the U.S.” Mann claimed that 34 serious scientific organizations are on board with the “Consensus”. WTF gives this ass permission to presume his superior authority about the climate when so much is “NOT Settled”? Where does his authority come from? Is he getting paid or is he just a delusional idiot who cannot admit there are many who disagree with him who are standing on firm ground. What gives him the authority or superiority to put fear into peoples minds and lives without a real consensus when he knows the “consensus” is a lie…That the science is not settled? He is a real piece of human waste. I guess the “Authority” has spoken and he can’t deal with rejection or legitimate questions about his scientific guesses.
Imagine interlocuting with the impossibly complex and mysteriously incomprehensible maker of all things?
Quite honestly, I am not sure how to do that. Do I just think it in my head? Do I express my thoughts aloud? Do I imagine a scenario and desire it? I really doubt my own skills in this matter. As such, can anyone? And can we all do so at the same time in aid of a political objective?
I yield to Blaise Pascal’s wager and will default to practicing good but I am not so sure that socialism is an objective truth, worthy of my extreme efforts to accomplish a pitiable result.
WHAT “ecological crisis”? 100+ comments and no one asked?!
It was the first thing I noticed.
We always said it was a ‘religion’….fairly understandable that the Poop should want to get in on the act.
I was baptized a Catholic before I had the wherewithal to speak for myself. As a non-practicing Catholic, I see this declaration in light of caring for the whole of creation including the wonderful sources of oil and natural gas and coal that have accumulated within and upon the earth, and I think of the wonderful connection of life small green entities feeding larger creations up the food chain. The diatoms, the plants the fishes of the seas including those mammals that chose to return to the ocean and those creatures that we haven’t yet studied, plus all those voiceless green things that inhabit the earth may their food source be every increasing – CO2, plus all the animals, reptiles, and insects that depend and thrive upon this complicated web of connected lives. For this I will pray, the weather and climate I will leave in god’s hands as I believe it is too complex to be significantly influenced by the hand of man.
“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride “.
Maybe, but when did it turn out to be ones life’s ambition ?
The fact that I own EXXON stock in no way has influenced me in my belief that oil is worth praying for.
Is the Anti-Pope recommending a charitable donation to the Rothschilds for participation in this prayer day?
And who does he recommend praying to?
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Neo-Catholics Should Celebrate Satanists’ Religious Freedom; Commit to Dialogue
Vatican II: Satanists Worship the One God?
http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/1892-neo-catholics-should-celebrate-satanists-religious-freedom-commit-to-dialogue
Catholics: “Remove that status of a being with a goat’s head, it offends us deeply.”
Satanists: “OK, but first please remove your statue of a man nailed to plank with blood dripping from him, that is simply revolting.”
http://cdn.meme.am/instances/55375372.jpg
In Canada we call it he “Labor Day” weekend. a bit of a give away.
For those who are into prophesy is it not interesting that the #1 political and the #1 religeous leader have joined in a plan to change gobal governance? Just asking.
Max
A problem with prophecy is that it is multiply applicable according to interpreter(s). One thing for sure is: the number of prophecies and the number of situations and the number of prophesiers and the number of natural situations is large enough to make it quite probable that someone gets it right.
Nostradamus and Scripture have nothing in common.
SR
Scripture also prophesizes a coalition between northwestern Iraq, Syria and Egypt that attacks Israel (not Armageddon). Is it not interesting that ISIS seeks just such a union of territories?
SR
In about 1 hour, I an heading out to a dark corner of Gloucester Massachusetts to watch the Perseids visible at 2 AM in the NE +/- 2 hours. I hope it isn’t cloudy.
This means that AGW is now officially a faith. Belonging to the Green Church and real world science has left the building.
Now its time to remove all those ugly three armed agw symbols from the face of the planet as the believers now have their Roman Church to go to.
I suggest that all north African invaders that are flooding into Italy claim they are climate refugees and ask for transport directly to Vatican City.
Surely this pope would never turn a blind eye to human suffering. He can sell off all the church riches and provide room and board to all comers.
Good point