|
About | Contact | Mongabay on Facebook | Mongabay on Twitter | Subscribe |
|
|
Pope Benedict XVI says environment has been undervalued by Catholics Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com August 7, 2008
Denying that environmental degradation was partially a product of Christian teaching—for example the belief that God gave man dominion over the earth—instead the Pope said that the destruction of the environment was primarily due to materialism: living in a "materialistic world" where "God is denied" has led to the environment's current state. "In a world closed in on its materialism," the Pope commented. "It is easier for the human being to make himself the dictator of all other creatures and of nature."
This is not the first time the Pope has spoken about the environment. He has called the need to confront climate change a "moral obligation". In March, the Pope made environmental destruction one of his new seven sins. At the time he said, "Perhaps reluctantly we come to acknowledge that there are also scars which mark the surface of our earth: erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world's mineral and ocean resources in order to fuel an insatiable consumption." The Pope also included excessive wealth and the creation of poverty amongst the new seven sins. The Pope has faced criticism from some ecologists who state that the Catholic Church's stance against contraception has helped fuel an overpopulated world. Overpopulation is considered by most environmentalists to be one of the overarching causes of environmental destruction. The Pope's comments were relayed to the press in the Vatican. There are over 1.1 billion Catholics in the world, the largest sect of Christianity. Many of these Catholics live in developing nations (for example over 130 million people in Brazil are Catholic) where poverty and environmental issues are paramount.
Tags: deforestation environmental politics politics climate change happy-upbeat environmental biodiversity environment jeremy hance green News index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing
|
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 
Photos HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS 
CALENDARS 
CANVAS BAGS 
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright mongabay 2010 Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect, an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region. Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant. |
