New Zealand should use its voice at the UN to get more international climate change funding to the Pacific communities that most need it says the director of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand Julianne Hickey. “At United Nations level we certainly need for there to be a commitment from the countries that are causing the environmental challenges Read more
The first draft of Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment has been completed, but the Pope says he needs to be certain about the science used. Speaking with reporters on his plane flight back from Korea, Pope Francis was asked by a German journalist about the upcoming encyclical. The Pope replied that he had spoken Read more
An encyclical by Pope Francis on creation and respect for the environment is expected to be released in early 2015. Pope Francis has reportedly spent months drafting his new encyclical. In March, during an audience with superiors from the Franciscan order, the Pope expressed how much this topic concerns him, and asked them for advice. Order Read more
Archbishop Charles Balvo has called for an ethical economic reform. Balvo, who was recently the Pope’s representative [apostolic nuncio] in Wellington was addressing the United Nations Environmental Assembly. He said that while the desire to moderate the consumption of goods was commendable, it was necessary to abandon the model of “an uncontrolled consumerism, an immeasurable Read more
Water is creating lots of dairy millionaires, but at what cost to our environment? Recipe for prosperity: take flat land, skilled farmers, fertiliser and cows. Add cheap water. Fold in new technology, lashings of debt and permissive environmental rules. Voila! In a decade or two you have a thriving district with next-to-no unemployment, a rising Read more
Pope Francis has sounded a clear warning about respect for the environment – if we destroy creation, then creation will destroy us. At his general audience on May 21, the Pope said polluting or destroying the environment amounts to telling God one doesn’t like his creation. Safeguarding creation is safeguarding a gift from God, he Read more
Communists in a south Indian state have declared support for five Christian candidates in national elections. The Left Democratic Front, an alliance of communist parties in Kerala, has come out for the candidates because of a common position on a land issue. Christian groups, led by a number of Catholic bishops, have been campaigning against Read more
In 1971 the document Justice in the World, issued by the Synod of Bishops, represented a major step in the development of Catholic teaching on the environment. Barbara Ward-Jackson was a consultant before and during the synod and undoubtedly had a considerable influence on its outcome. This document emphasised the close link between ecology and Read more
The Chairman of the Vanuatu Christian Council, Reverend James Ligo, says the government has lost sight of the nation’s original vision for independence by attracting more foreign investors and approving dual citizenship. He says it is “important to recall our vision for independence because I believe the foundation of Vanuatu as an independent nation was Read more
Archbishop of Naples Crescenzio Sepe didn’t mince words when speaking about the issue of pollution on Wednesday, going so far as to say, “Those who pollute are not in the grace of God and can not take communion.” His remarks came in the wake of revelations that local mafia had buried cancer-causing toxic waste around Read more