The Guardian reports that following a visit in March to Tacloban, the Philippine city devastated in 2012 by typhoon Haiyan, Pope Francis plans to publish a rare encyclical on climate change and human ecology urging all Catholics to take action on moral and scientific grounds. "A papal encyclical is rare," says Bishop Marcelo Sorondo, chancellor of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences who revealed the pope's plans when he delivered Cafod’s annual Pope Paul VI lecture. "It is among the highest levels of a pope’s authority. It will be 50 to 60 pages long; it’s a big deal." The encyclical will be sent to the world’s 5,000 Catholic bishops and 400,000 priests, who will distribute it to parishioners. Within Catholicism in recent times, an encyclical is generally used for significant issues, and is second in importance only to the highest ranking document now issued by popes, an Apostolic Constitution. “Just as humanity confronted revolutionary change in the 19th century at the time of industrialization, today we have changed the natural environment so much," says Sorondo. "If current trends continue, the century will witness unprecedented climate change and destruction of the ecosystem with tragic consequences.”
Francis’s environmental radicalism is likely to attract resistance from Vatican conservatives and in rightwing church circles, particularly in the US – where Catholic climate sceptics also include John Boehner, Republican leader of the House of Representatives and Rick Santorum, the former Republican presidential candidate. “There will always be 5-10% of people who will take offence. They are very vocal and have political clout," says Dan Misleh, director of the Catholic climate covenant. "This encyclical will threaten some people and bring joy to others. The arguments are around economics and science rather than morality." Francis will also be opposed by the powerful US evangelical movement, says Calvin Beisner, spokesman for the conservative Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, which has declared the US environmental movement to be “un-biblical” and a false religion. “The pope should back off,” says Beisner. “The Catholic church is correct on the ethical principles but has been misled on the science. It follows that the policies the Vatican is promoting are incorrect. Our position reflects the views of millions of evangelical Christians in the US.”
(Score: 3, Informative) by Thexalon on Tuesday January 13 2015, @05:19PM
Conservative Protestants in the US usually get there by arguing that the chaos and disorder that will result are just a prelude to the Second Coming, and they'll be safely Raptured away before anything really bad happens. So it's not so much "there is no danger", more "there is no danger to people that believe as we do, because God is giving us a way to avoid it. So long, suckers!"
I'm not sure how Catholics can get around the problem, though, because you won't find any of that in Catholic dogma. The source of that kind of thought was formed during the Second Great Awakening of early 19th century America, and was thoroughly Protestant. Other outgrowths of that were the Scofield Reference Bible, William Miller's failed prediction of the end of the world (the Great Disappointment), and most of the African-American Protestant tradition.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 13 2015, @09:23PM
The Catholics also believe in Revelations.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday January 13 2015, @09:39PM
Yes, Catholics believe in Revelations (they were responsible for its inclusion in the Bible, so this is hardly surprising). However, their interpretation of Revelations [usccb.org] is completely different from those Protestants who think it's a literal prophecy of things to come.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 14 2015, @11:04AM
One interesting bit from that link:
It's somewhat funny that the smallest perfect number [wikipedia.org] signifies imperfection, while the following deficient number [wikipedia.org] signifies perfection.