Last week, we mentioned that Pope Benedict XVI (that’s fancy for “The Sixteenth”) spoke out on the topic of climate change on his way to Australia. Â Now that he’s made his way to Sydney, the Pope is continuing on that same topic, telling a crowd of over 140,000 that humans are destroying the earth through it’s “insatiable consumption.”
Speaking at a youth festival, the Pope stated, “Perhaps reluctantly we come to acknowledge that there are also scars which mark the surface of our earth: erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world’s mineral and ocean resources in order to fuel an insatiable consumption.” The Vatican has also started purchasing carbon credits to offset the nation’s energy consumption in an effort to show in deed what the Pontiff states in word.
It should be noted, as well, that the Vatican now lists pollution as a mortal sin, which, for those of you not up on your theology, is one that disconnects you from God. Â So, you know, if you’re Catholic, that’s not so good.
Of course, Pope Benedict XVI is not the only, nor the first, religious leader to speak out against pollution. Â You can takepart here for an exhaustive list of resources detailing the environmental views of many of the world’s religions. Â It’s pretty fascinating stuff, if I do say so myself. Â Which I just did. Â Huh?
CATEGORIES: Culture, Environment
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Dear your Eminency,
People are, by definition, responsible for human induced climate change right? Wouldn’t less people be another way to curb our “insatiable consumption”?
Birth control rules!
Sincerely,
eeyun
Pollution a mortal sin according to the vatican? Pollution (the general term) would not be listed a mortal sin, only the degree of severity, and then, only possibly, but I doubt it. Did another ‘blogger’ like yourself tell you this? It’s an erroneous message.
eeyun,
Less people, does that include yourself since you used the term ‘our’ ?
insatiable consumption and birth control have the same source, the ME ME ME mentality.
rk,
I recalled reading about pollution being called a mortal sin when the announcement was made in L’Osservatore Romano some months back, but unfortunately they do not archive online, so I can’t provide you with a link. However, if you do a websearch of “pollution mortal sin” or anything of that nature (or even click the link in my post), you’ll come up with some articles saying as such. Here’s another link that explains a little more:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/03/13/new.sins/index.html
I myself had to double-check with multiple sources before printing that. I assumed pollution would be at best venial. So, though I didn’t get that information from another ‘blogger,’ I followed the same process as if I had - I made sure the information was correct before passing it on (not counting the Arrested Development story I posted a week or two ago which was proven incorrect. I just got excited about that one and ran with it).
rk,
Population growth was what I was alluding to, although that might not have been clear. In any case, “less people” could very well include me but suicide is still a no-no is it not?
Additionally, I’m not sure how you can think that birth control stems from the ME ME ME mentailty, since I personally have nothing to gain by forgoeing procreation. The rest of the populace of the planet (as well as future generations) is who will benefit.
It’s a moot point anyhow, since the global population will be regulated in some way, whether it be by our deliberate intervention or not. Disease, food shortages, natural disasters - these things will continue to thin the herd, and the death tolls will only get bigger as the world becomes more populated.