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 Council for Peace and Justice spoke to the topic.

"I think that the Vatican bank may think of initiatives which are at the core of this change," Ms Giovanelli said.

"So we will see in the future . . . it [divestment] may be considered by the Vatican," she said.

The Guardian article theorised that Ms Giovanelli's hesitancy might reflect internal divisions about whether investment decisions by the Institute for Religious Works (known as the Vatican bank) ought to reflect Pope Francis's values.

Cardinal George Pell's climate-change scepticism was cited.

Canadian social activist Naomi Klein, who is Rome for a conference on Laudato Si', said she believed that a possible divestment policy was under discussion.

"It is my understanding that this is an issue that is being internally debated and that a lot of issues are up for review and this is being raised," Ms Klein told the Guardian.

A spokesman for the Vatican bank, Max Hohenberg, said the issue was largely irrelevant because "there really isn't much to divest".

He said about 95 per cent of the bank's assets were invested in government bonds, and the rest was invested in stocks held in investment funds, and that he had no knowledge of what specific stocks were held.

He added that the bank did not have any social investment policies in place, and that establishing one meant that it would likely be seen as a "model" within the Church, "which is obviously quite a big issue".

Earlier this year, the Church of England announced it would divest itself of 12 million pounds of investment in firms where more than 10 per cent of revenue comes from extracting thermal coal or the production of oil from tar sands.

Sources

• The Guardian
• BBC
• Image: The Telegraph

Ms Klein, who campaigns for an overhaul of the global financial system to tackle climate change, will take centre stage at the conference alongside Cardinal Peter Turkson.

The cardinal is president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which issued the invitation to Ms Klein.

The conference will focus on Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato Si' and its implications for work against climate change and towards just economies and lifestyles.

Delegates will also look ahead to two major international climate change meetings in New York and Paris.

Ms Klein, the author of "This changes everything: Capitalism Vs the Climate", expressed surprise and delight at receiving the Vatican invitation.

"The fact that they invited me indicates they're not backing down from the fight," she said.

"A lot of people have patted the Pope on the head, but said he's wrong on the economics.

"I think he's right on the economics," she said.

Critics have argued the Catholic Church should not be involved in an issue that should be left to presidents and policy-makers.

But Ms Klein said the Pope's position as a "moral voice" in the world - and leader of 1.2 billion Catholics - gives him the unique ability to unite campaigners fighting for a common goal.

"The holistic view of the encyclical should be a catalyst to bring together the twin economic and climate crises, instead of treating them separately," she said.

Ms Klein will join Cardinal Turkson and the co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, at a press conference on July 1.

On Sunday, an estimated 5000 people, including faith leaders, scientists and environmental campaigners, marched to St Peter's Square to support Laudato Si' and urge world leaders to take action.

There, Francis encouraged a multi-faith effort to help protect the environment.

"I encourage the collaboration between persons and associations of different religions on behalf of an integral ecology," he said.

Sources

• The Guardian
• The Guardian
• CIDSE
• Image: The Guardian

This is a comprehensive and timely book.

Klein says in part one, "If there has ever been a moment to advance a plan to heal the planet that also heals our broken economies and our shattered communities, this is it."

In the introduction she says "this is the hardest book I have ever written because climate change puts us on such a tight and unforgiving deadline."

This book is about our "climate moment" with all its challenges and opportunities.

First, Klein says we have to stop looking away.

We deny because we fear letting in the full reality of a crisis that changes everything.

The need to change everything is not something we readily accept.

If we are to curb emissions in the next decade we need a massive mobilisation larger than any in history.

She quotes the Bolivian Navarro Llamos who suggests it is time for a "Marshall Plan for Earth".

The question is posed: What is wrong with us?

What is really preventing us from putting out the fire that's threatening to burn down our collective house?

The global economy always takes centre stage. Market fundamentalsim has systematically sabotaged our collective responses.

Our economic system and our planetary systems are at war.

We are faced with a stark choice: "either we allow climate change to disrupt everything about our world or we change pretty much everything about our world to avoid that fate".

We need a radical rethink for these changes to be remotely possible.

Our "climate moment" is accompanied by what she calls a "fossil fuel frenzy".

A wild dig is going on in most nations on the planet. Aotearoa/NZ being no exception. Continue reading

• Fr Peter Healy is a Marist priest who lives and works in Otaki.