God help us! Pope declares September 1st to be annual global warming prayer day

(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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August 12, 2015 9:17 pm

Please ask the Pope this:
Why is there still ice in Hudson Bay and James bay?
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_usa.gif

Reply to  J. Philip Peterson
August 12, 2015 11:54 pm

J. Philip Peterson
August 12, 2015 at 9:17 pm said:
Please ask the Pope this:
Why is there still ice in Hudson Bay and James Bay?
————
Mr Pope: “Global warming is why. Now down and give me 50 hail Marys”.

Paul Westhaver
August 12, 2015 9:23 pm

Anthony says: 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.
Ora et Labora
1) If he can get 2 billion people mobilized… to do something…by way of a communal act, like prayer, then something just might happen.
2) God does not do the bidding of man even if asked to do so. God is..Omniscient. He may well turn UP the heat if that what He wants.
Me? I am asking for clear skys to view the Perseids.

August 12, 2015 9:25 pm

To deny the poor cheap energy
Does that give the Pope a thrill?
Perhaps he should pray for
The millions it will kill!
http://rhymeafterrhyme.net/a-communist-pope-but-are-the-poor-rejoicing/

Climate Heretic
August 12, 2015 9:43 pm

Delusional
a : something that is falsely or delusively believed or propagated
b : a persistent false psychotic belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the contrary; also : the abnormal state marked by such beliefs.
Hence people who are religious and believe in (their) god and AGW are delusional.
Regards
Climate Heretic
PS. Something to watch about: Delusional

JPeden
August 12, 2015 9:50 pm

If the Pope accepts “CO2-Climate Change” as a component of the Catholic Religion, then ~”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of Religion.”

Paul Westhaver
Reply to  JPeden
August 12, 2015 10:05 pm

very sly

pat
August 12, 2015 9:55 pm

5 pages from Reuters – it’s because the Church is conservative!
12 Aug: Reuters: Richard Valdmanis: Insight – Pope’s climate push at odds with U.S. Catholic oil investments
But some of the largest American Catholic organizations have millions of dollars invested in energy companies, from hydraulic fracturing firms to oil sands producers, according to their own disclosures, through many portfolios intended to fund church operations and pay clergy salaries…
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN0QH0ED20150812

dp
August 12, 2015 10:08 pm

Perhaps the pope has not yet read “The War Prayer” by Mark Twain. It is a well-written suggestion to be careful for what you ask of the Lord.
http://warprayer.org/

Ian Macdonald
Reply to  dp
August 12, 2015 11:23 pm

Yep, be careful what you ask for, because what you get will be what you asked for. But, it may not be what you wanted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwWCXVb6bSc

LarryFine
August 12, 2015 10:52 pm

“Oh Lord, open the Pope’s eyes!” -paraphrasing William Tyndale

ralfellis
Reply to  LarryFine
August 13, 2015 3:14 am

Hmm – but he did open the Pope’s eyes, and the Pope had him burned at the stake. Nice organisation, this Catholic Church….
Ralph

August 13, 2015 12:49 am

Praying will help if your Christian but aside from prayer u also can’t just wait on a miracle u have to act

Stephen Richards
August 13, 2015 1:05 am

So I guess the rest of us will have to do nothing to save the planet. His chants to his god will do it. perhaps we asked the muslims to ask allah as well. It might work.
Prayer has always worked in the past, hasn’t it?

Ed Zuiderwijk
August 13, 2015 1:10 am

When the AGW religion comes crashing down will it take the Vatican with it? That would be the ultimate bogof.

George Tetley
August 13, 2015 1:22 am

Maybe he would be better off in the eyes of all Christians if he asked his God , ” Why is it that Muslims are escaping to Christian countries ?” ( I think God would reply to both questions (AGW & Muslim immigration )
GO LEARN SOME HISTORY!!

RogueElement451
August 13, 2015 2:04 am

Our carbon which art in heaven
defiled be thy name
thy time is done
let thee be buried beneath the Earth and taken from the skies
You gave us this technology and fixed our daily bread
Our trespasses cannot be forgiven even if we forgive those natural processes we do not control
We have been led into temptation and must be delivered from evil
let there be no more kingdoms , power or glory
never ever again.
Amen
Just trying to help out on the new prayer format.

Ed Zuiderwijk
Reply to  RogueElement451
August 13, 2015 2:54 am

Hail Gaia
Full of Grace.

Eugene WR Gallun
August 13, 2015 2:32 am

The guy is definitely kookier than I thought. Let me be the first to suggest the early middle stages of Alzheimer’s. His staff obviously shoves him in whatever direction they want.
POPE FRANCIS — The Useful Idiot
Sings A Famous Religious Song
(I)
I don’t care if it rains and freezes
Long as I got my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
I’m driving fast to where I’m going
Horn a’honking, headlights glowing
Racing to that global climate war
It’s Armageddon straight ahead!
For just as Adam Smith has said
Creating wealth sets each against all others!
The Covenant within the Ark
Is best fulfilled through Karl Marx
Shared poverty will make us Christian brothers!
(II)
I preach a new theology
Derived from climatology
My altar is the dashboard of my car
I had a vision, went to buy a
Naked, windup, plastic Gaia
I serve Her in the global climate war
For Gaia mends the Trinity
She is the third Divinity
God feminine as Christ was made a male
In all the nations they will herald
The Moving Spirit Of The World!
— Who bobs Her head and shakes Her tail
Eugene WR Gallun

ralfellis
August 13, 2015 3:03 am

Since AGW is a religion, it is only fit and proper that it has a day of prayer.
And AGW should also have a saint too, and I would suggest St. Mann of State Penn.
And it needs a liturgy too. I would suggest three Hail CO2s and a Hail Methane, before kneeling before the Great Arcticus and delivering the Sermon on the Glacier. The two priests would then turn to each other and give the Warmist knuckle to knuckle Grip** and the secret Word – ‘Polybear’. The other priest would reply ‘Pass Polybear’….
Ralph
** Because the Great Arcticus got frostbite and lost three fingers.

Man Bearpig
August 13, 2015 3:21 am

If you do not kneel and pray before the god of climate, he/she will smite you down where you stand. Simite you down I tell you. Kneel! Kneel! Pray!

Man Bearpig
August 13, 2015 3:22 am

oops forgot the /Sarc because I was being sarcaastic … ouch! just got Smit.

August 13, 2015 3:32 am

“September 1st to be a day of global warming prayer”, pontificated Francis. :0)

Gamecock
August 13, 2015 4:02 am

The days of praying to God about weather are over; Man controls weather now.
The Pope is participating in the destruction of his church.

troe
August 13, 2015 4:22 am

Speaking as a Catholic this Pope is falling all over himself to play shaman to the political chiefs. A central criticism of liberation theology is the role of the church in keeping the masses compliant. In typical fashion the critics have learned best the uses of the things they criticise.
Jesus nailed to the hammer and sickle indeed. That photo explains irony to perfection.

August 13, 2015 4:32 am

Is it just me or does this seem like it is being given a higher priority than the plight of all the women and girls who have been taken captive by ISIS and now are being sold as sex slaves? (that is, after all their husbands and fathers have been murdered)

Neo
August 13, 2015 4:36 am

The real question here is whether of not the Church of Global Warming will allow their message to be taken up by this more traditional religion an possibly lose control of the message ?
Secondarily, whether our secular government will bite and descend from “Separation of Church and State” to use this “useful idiot” ?

troe
Reply to  Neo
August 13, 2015 4:50 am

How large would the crowds be if we took the exhumed body of JPll on a world tour.

David, UK
August 13, 2015 4:38 am

This is all we need. Just as the world is on the cusp of cooling, the religious nutters start a prayer fest. This means they’ll take credit for the changes when it significantly cools. that said, it’s a balancing act: if we drift into another mini-ice-age they’ll have to start praying the other way. Must avoid prayer tipping point.
How adults in this day and age can still believe in this mystical nonsense – and worship some fool in white robes – is beyond me.

fretslider
August 13, 2015 4:41 am

Ho There is no god
Ha There is a god
I can’t see the null hypothesis being falsified, somehow….

brent
August 13, 2015 4:43 am

How to Counter Religion’s Toxic Effects
Wilson’s classic, On Human Nature, challenges the world’s science enterprise to explore the underlying genetic and cultural determinants of religion, which, he argues, “are powerful, ineradicable, and at the center of human social existence.” Wilson contends that the human mind necessarily creates morality, religion, and mythology and empowers them with emotional force. “When blind ideologies and religious beliefs are stripped away,” he theorizes, “others are quickly manufactured as replacements.” His strategy for countering toxic religion then is to rationally harness what he calls the “mythopoeic drive” to inspire humanistic social outcomes and to concede that “scientific materialism is itself a mythology defined in the noble sense.”
Wilson’s newest book, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth illustrates a way to harness the mythopoeic drive. The book takes the form of a letter to an imagined Southern Baptist preacher from whom he seeks cooperation on dealing with global environmental threats. His strategy here makes no attempt to change the pastor’s commitment to God’s revealed word. Rather, he redirects the pastor’s understanding of scripture as creating a duty to save humanity from global warming. The implied logic here is that God loves humanity and wants us to save ourselves from self-created threats. But to earn the preacher’s trust Wilson must concede that he too shares the mythopoeic drive. In order to cooperate, he and the pastor must learn to understand and tolerate the fact that each must make decisions that align with their respective mythic frameworks. Thus Wilson reduces the philosophical chasm to a routine matter of religious tolerance in a pluralistic society. He is then able to say to the pastor: “You and I are humanists in the broadest sense: human welfare is at the center of our thought.” And while the book is Wilson’s monologue, we can imagine the pastor responding: “You and I are God-fearing in the broadest sense because we care about humanity’s future.”
http://thehumanist.com/magazine/may-june-2007/features/how-to-counter-religions-toxic-effects
Curb your enthusiasm
High priests, holy writ and excommunications – how did Humanism end up acting like a religion?
In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book On Human Nature, he declares explicitly that Darwinism is a new mythology replacing the old religious forms. The story is now a familiar one:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/06/25/apocalyptic-fear-mongering-sometimes-rush-limbaugh-is-right/#comment-1972315
E.O. Wilson Quotes
“Science and religion are the two most powerful forces in the world. Having them at odds… is not productive.”
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/07/04/an-ecologists-perspective-on-pope-franciss-encyclical-letter/#comment-1979059

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