Comments on: Catholic Church To Call Action On Climate Change A “Moral Obligation” http://bodypolitik.org/2007/09/23/catholic-church-to-call-action-on-climate-change-a-moral-obligation/ Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:56:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Matthew Reiman http://bodypolitik.org/2007/09/23/catholic-church-to-call-action-on-climate-change-a-moral-obligation/#comment-31 Matthew Reiman Mon, 24 Sep 2007 06:25:06 +0000 http://bodypolitik.org/2007/09/23/catholic-church-to-call-action-on-climate-change-a-moral-obligation/#comment-31 The Pope has taken a great step by declaring this cause to be a worthy one for Catholics to consider. I am impressed that the Vatican is carbon neutral. Hopefully this is a way for the Church to reach out to secular Europe so that they may become more willing to follow the teachings of the Church. Amen to that. But here is where I disagree with you. The Pope is not championing science over dogma. There was never an anti-environmental dogma. Recent Popes of the past few hundred years have been very willing to accept science. A good example is Venerable Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Humani Generis which said that there is no conflict between Darwinian evolution and the Roman Catholic faith. Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI have all made it very clear that faith and reason walk hand in hand. The Pope has taken a great step by declaring this cause to be a worthy one for Catholics to consider. I am impressed that the Vatican is carbon neutral. Hopefully this is a way for the Church to reach out to secular Europe so that they may become more willing to follow the teachings of the Church. Amen to that. But here is where I disagree with you. The Pope is not championing science over dogma. There was never an anti-environmental dogma. Recent Popes of the past few hundred years have been very willing to accept science. A good example is Venerable Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Humani Generis which said that there is no conflict between Darwinian evolution and the Roman Catholic faith. Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI have all made it very clear that faith and reason walk hand in hand.

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