Pope Benedict: 'People Outrank the Environment'

Bottom Line Up Front: Pope Benedict is prepared to say that people are more important than the environment and global warming assessments shouldn't be based on hysteria.

Pope Benedict XVI's remarks in his annual message for World Peace Day on January 1, 2008 were released as delegates from all over the world convened on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali for UN climate change talks. In his speech, Pope Benedict will say that human beings are superior to the environment and that environmental assessments must be made based on science and expertise, not "hasty conclusions" based on "ideological pressure". 

(Pope Benedict's speech)

The family, the human community and the environment

The family needs a home, a fit environment in which to develop its proper relationships. For the human family, this home is the earth, the environment that God the Creator has given us to inhabit with creativity and responsibility. We need to care for the environment: it has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant guiding criterion. Human beings, obviously, are of supreme worth vis-à-vis creation as a whole. Respecting the environment does not mean considering material or animal nature more important than man. Rather, it means not selfishly considering nature to be at the complete disposal of our own interests, for future generations also have the right to reap its benefits and to exhibit towards nature the same responsible freedom that we claim for ourselves. Nor must we overlook the poor, who are excluded in many cases from the goods of creation destined for all. Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow. It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances. If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations. Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken, decisions aimed at strengthening that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we come and towards whom we are journeying.

Pope Benedict also rejects the idea that population control is the answer to environmental concerns, saying children and families add to "that common house which is the earth":

The social community, if it is to live in peace, is also called to draw inspiration from the values on which the family community is based. This is as true for local communities as it is for national communities; it is also true for the international community itself, for the human family which dwells in that common house which is the earth. Here, however, we cannot forget that the family comes into being from the responsible and definitive “yes” of a man and a women, and it continues to live from the conscious “yes” of the children who gradually join it. The family community, in order to prosper, needs the generous consent of all its members.

We'll have to wait and see if the same people who hail the Pope for comments about the difficulty of war in Iraq will stand by these comments as steadfastly.

OTHERS BLOGGING:  Gateway Pundit   Hot Air

PREVIOUS POSTS:
Woman Aborts Baby and Gets Sterilized to Save the Planet

Trackback URL: 
http://amyproctor.squarespace.com/blog/trackback/1424341

Comments

[Sharon]

Hi Amy,
I commented on the other thread very late, but I'll say the same thing here, but shorter. I consider myself an environmentalist but I care about the Earth more because I have children. I want it to be a cleaner, better, place for them (among other things). I think the Pope has it right when he says the Earth is not at our complete disposal but it needs to be kept for our children. That, to me, is the essence of environmentalism.
Sharon

[Amy Proctor]

Sharon, I also care about the earth and think most people really don't want a polluted, dirty environment to live in. There is a hard core religious movement from within environmentalism that has a sacrament (the earth) and requires faith to believe its theories. I'm glad to see the pope differentiate between good concern about the earth and fanaticism.

Here's this:

Study: Part of Global-Warming Model May Be Wrong