Do the climate change deniers seem more ridiculous than ever? Gee, I dunno, is the pope Catholic?
Actually, Pope Francis himself is making them look more ridiculous and isolated than ever.
He’s poised to put his moral imprimatur on the scientific consensus about man-made climate change, with a much-anticipated summer encyclical, and this is driving the conservative deniers batty.
It’s also putting Republicans, most notably Catholic presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, in a very awkward position.
They’ve got to keep pandering to the anti-science nuts in The Base without appearing to diss the popular pro-science pontiff.
The pope has been discomfiting the deniers since last winter, when he cited human activity as a key factor in climate change:
“In great part, it is man who has slapped nature in the face. We have in a sense taken over nature.” Cardinal Peter Turkson, a top Vatican official, says the pope “is pointing to the ominous signs in nature that suggest that humanity may now have tilled too much and kept too little.”
And yesterday, at a Vatican summit meeting, religious and science leaders (along with business and political leaders) released a joint statement. The key quote: “Human-induced climate change is a scientific reality, and its decisive mitigation is a moral and religious imperative for humanity.”
Best of all, Pope Francis is slated to address Congress in September (roughly 30 percent of its members are Catholic), at the express invitation of John Boehner. Buy your popcorn now.
As the Rev. Thomas Reese, an analyst at the National Catholic Reporter, told the press the other day, “I think Boehner was out of his mind to invite the pope….Can you imagine what the Republicans will do when he says, ‘You’ve got to do something about global warming?'”
What they’ll do, of course, is dismiss and deny. Yes, the pope has great moral power (and a grassroots global following, thanks to his social media savvy), and yes, he’s helping to build momentum for a United Nations climate change accord in December. Continue reading
Image: EcoWatch
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