environment – NZ Catholic Newspaper

Pope, President Trump speak of hopes for peace

Cindy Wooden — Wed, 24 May 2017 23:09:52 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis and U.S. President Donald Trump spent 30 minutes speaking privately in the library of the Apostolic Palace May 24, and as the president left, he told the pope, “I won’t forget what you said.”echo $variable;

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Report details hardship in Pacific nations

NZ Catholic Staff — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 02:24:27 +0000

Cases of children having to eat cassava roots softened with paracetamol and people dying from lack of food and clean water are among the examples of widespread hunger and thirst throughout the Pacific. Such cases are detailed in the latest Caritas State of the Environment Report for Oceania, Hungry for justice, thirsty for change. The report, which was launched at Parliament on October 4,

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Pope urges world leaders to act for the environment

Vatican City (CNS) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:07:02 +0000

by JOHN THAVIS
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI urged international leaders to reach a credible agreement on climate change, keeping in mind the needs of the poor and of future generations.
The Pope made the remarks at his noon blessing at the Vatican on November 27, the day before officials from 194 countries were to begin meeting in Durban, South Africa, to discuss the next steps in reducing greenhouse gases and stopping global temperatures from rising.
“I hope that all members of the international community can agree on a responsible, credible and supportive response to this worrisome and complex phenomenon, keeping in mind the needs of the poorest populations and of future generations,” the Pope said.
The meeting, which runs until December 9, is the latest in a series to consider follow-up action to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which obligated industrialised countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a specific amount. The Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012.
The goal of the talks organised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is to cut greenhouse gases by 50 per cent by 2050 and prevent temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius.
Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, president of Caritas Internationalis, was leading a 20-person Caritas delegation to the Durban talks to press for an agreement on behalf of poor countries that have been severely impacted by climate change.
Before leaving for Durban, Cardinal Rodriguez took several thousand young Italian members of a Franciscan environmental group to the Vatican for a lively encounter with the Pope.
The Pope told them that the Church’s teaching on the environment follows from the principle that men and women are collaborators with God and his creation. “In fact, it is by now evident that there is no good future for humanity or for the earth unless we educate everyone towards a style of life that is more responsible toward the created world,” he said.
He said education towards environmental responsibility must begin in families and schools and must reflect the Church’s teaching that respect for the human being — in all stages of life — goes hand in hand with respect for nature.
In a pastoral letter, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference asked people to urge South Africa’s government, which is chairing the Durban meeting, to support resolutions “based not on immediate economic needs only, but on the survival needs of future generations”.
The bishops also called on people “to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using your own properties productively to grow trees that will absorb carbon dioxide, to grow vegetables and crops organically to reduce the use of chemical-based fertilisers, and to share the food thus grown with the hungry and malnourished”.

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Pope’s message for 2010 World Peace Day will focus on environment

Vatican City (CNS) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) Pope Benedict XVI will focus on the connection between protecting the environment and working for peace in the message he will publish for World Peace Day in 2010, the Vatican said. echo $variable;

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Cardinal: Faith includes solidarity with poor, care for environment

Michael Otto — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:00:00 +0000

SYDNEY (CNS) Growing in Catholic faith and experiencing the universality of the Catholic Church necessarily includes growing in solidarity with the poor and working to safeguard the environment, said Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. echo $variable;

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