Thou Shalt Not Polllute?

Polluting has been added to a list of sins maintained by the Vatican, according to an article published by Reuters (see excerpt below):

The guidance came at the weekend when Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the Vatican's number two man in the sometimes murky area of sins and penance, spoke of modern evils.
Asked what he believed were today's "new sins," he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the greatest danger zone for the modern soul was the largely uncharted world of bioethics.
"(Within bioethics) there are areas where we absolutely must denounce some violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments and genetic manipulation whose outcome is difficult to predict and control," he said.
The Vatican opposes stem cell research that involves destruction of embryos and has warned against the prospect of human cloning.
Girotti, in an interview headlined "New Forms of Social Sin," also listed "ecological" offences as modern evils.
In recent months, Pope Benedict has made several strong appeals for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race.
Under Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, the Vatican has become progressively "green".

Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 25 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.

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Green: The Pope's New Favorite Color?

You probably always thought the pope's favorite color is red, right? (Exhibit A: those red Prada shoes!) Lately, though, the pope has gone crazy for green, according to a BBC News report published this past Sunday:

The Catholic Church has declared Sunday "Save Creation Day" as Pope Benedict joined about 300,000 young Roman Catholics for an eco-friendly festival.
The youth festival is being held at the shrine of Loreto, in Italy.
In his main homily the Pope urged young Catholics to take better care of the planet and called for "courageous decisions" to safeguard creation.
The weekend gathering is a run-up to the 2008 Catholic World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia which he will attend.
We need a decisive 'yes' to care for creation and a strong commitment to reverse those trends that risk making the situation of decay irreversible
Pope Benedict XVI
Wearing green vestments, the pontiff told the crowd it was up to them to save the planet from development which often upset "nature's delicate equilibrium".
"Before it's too late, we need to make courageous choices that will recreate a strong alliance between man and Earth," he said.
"We need a decisive 'yes' to care for creation and a strong commitment to reverse those trends that risk making the situation of decay irreversible."
He focused on water, which he described as a "precious" resource and a potential source of tension and conflict.
On Saturday, the Pope told the crowds to have faith that they can succeed in marriage and decried what he called a "failure of love" and the decline of family values.
But the BBC's David Willey in Rome says the emphasis of the festival as a whole is on the environment, with each participant receiving a free knapsack made out of recycled plastic.
It contains a hand-cranked battery charger, plates and cutlery made from bio-degradable plastic and bags for tying up their rubbish when they leave.
The Pope is also practising what he preaches, our correspondent adds.
He is installing solar panels on the roof of the main audience hall at the Vatican and is paying for a forestry project to offset the Vatican's carbon emissions.
Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 22 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.htm

Vatican Goes Green

Though red is still the pope's color, the Vatican is going green. Vatican City has announced plans to become the world's first carbon-neutral state, according to the website environmentalleader.com:

The Vatican plans to become the first entirely carbon neutral sovereign state, and it has chosen KlimaFa ecorestoration offsets to achieve this goal. KlimaFa has created a new Vatican Climate Forest in Europe that will initially offset all of the Vatican’s CO2 emissions for this year.
Planktos/KlimaFa has further committed to work with the Vatican and the Pontifical Council of Culture to develop methods to calculate the CO2 emissions of individual Catholic churches and offer ecorestoration options to turn their carbon footprints green.
“The Holy See’s increasingly creative environmental leadership is both insightful and profound,” said Planktos CEO and KlimaFa managing director, Russ George. “Not only is the Vatican steadily reducing its carbon footprint with energy efficiency and solar power, its choice of new mixed growth forests to offset the balance of its emissions shows a deep commitment to planetary stewardship as well. It eloquently makes the point that ecorestoration is a fitting climate change solution for a culture of life.”
The new Vatican Climate Forest will be created in Hungary’s Bukk National Park under the auspices of the KlimaFa Climate Parks program. Its dimensions will be determined by the Vatican’s 2007 energy use and the success of its current emission reduction efforts.
In June, the Vatican announced that the roof of the Paul VI , 6,300-seat auditorium will be redone next year, with its cement panels replaced with photovoltaic cells.

Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 22 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.htm