In a response to Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’, Chicago archdiocese plans to benchmark all of its 2700 buildings to aid energy efficiency. This will see churches, schools and other buildings evaluated for their water usage, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions. Data will be tracked using the US Environmental Protection Agency’s free Energy Star Portfolio Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Laudato Si’
Church must be part of over-population solution: Priest
Tuesday, July 28th, 2015
The publisher of an Asian Catholic news website has called for the Church to play a role in reducing the Earth’s human population. In an opinion piece posted on ucanews.com, Fr William Grimm noted that Pope Francis’s recent encyclical Laudato Si’ dismissed concerns about overpopulation as a major source of the ecological crisis. Fr Grimm Read more
Journalist banned from Pope Francis’s plane
Tuesday, July 28th, 2015The Vatican has banned an Italian journalist from travelling on the papal plane during Pope Francis’s visit to Cuba and the United States later this year. Experienced Vatican correspondent Marco Ansaldo will be forced to seek alternative transport to cover the visit. The sanction comes as punishment for his newspaper’s role in breaching an embargo Read more
Cardinal Pell questions science behind Laudato Si’
Friday, July 24th, 2015
Cardinal George Pell has seemingly criticised Pope Francis’s most recent encyclical, arguing that the Church has “no particular expertise in science”. In an interview with the Financial Times, the cardinal appeared to distance himself from the science behind some of the statements in Laudato Si’. In the document, released last month, Francis called for global Read more
Pope says Laudato Si’ not an encyclical on environment
Friday, July 24th, 2015
Pope Francis has said that his recent encyclical Laudato Si’ is not an encyclical on the environment. Rather, it is a social encyclical, he told 70 mayors from big cities at a two day workshop at the Vatican this week addressing modern slavery and climate change. It is a social encyclical, the Pope said, because Read more
Polynesian leaders sign climate change declaration
Tuesday, July 21st, 2015
The Polynesian Leaders Group, made up of eight countries, have adopted a declaration calling for international recognition of their countries’ vulnerability to climate change. The Polynesia Against Climate Threats declaration calls for a joint effort to protect the ocean and the environment, and will be taken to world leaders at a major climate change conference Read more
Laudato Si’: A political reading
Friday, July 17th, 2015
When I was young the intellectual milieu was shaped by the need to come to terms with the unprecedented crimes and the general moral collapse that had taken place on European soil following the outbreak of great power conflict in August 1914 – Hitler and Stalin, the Holocaust and the Gulag, the concentration camps and Read more
What a Pope Francis economy would look like
Tuesday, July 7th, 2015
The criticisms of Pope Francis’ economic vision have been harsh and unrelenting: National Review says “Laudato No,” Maureen Mullarkey in The Federalist called it “An Extravagant Rant” and David Brooks in The New York Times echoes their basic premise: The growth that lifted so many from poverty in the past century would not have happened Read more
Vatican shuffles feet on fossil fuel divestment
Friday, July 3rd, 2015
The Vatican may consider, but is not committed to, divesting its holdings in fossil fuels, an official has indicated. That is despite Pope Francis’s call in his encyclical Laudato Si’ for bold action to fight climate change and global warming, The Guardian reported. At a press conference on July 1, Flaminia Giovanelli from the Pontifical Read more
Laudato Si’ reveals Pope as a wily operator
Friday, July 3rd, 2015
In the days just before its publication, those involved in drafting the pope’s controversial eco-encyclical Laudato Si’ were much exercised about how it would be received by conservative critics. But Pope Francis, Vatican insiders tell me, was unfazed. He remains so in the face of the onslaught of criticism that has indeed ensued. The pope’s Read more