As part of a worldwide drive by the Catholic church to increase environmental awareness, priests are now going to have to to learn about climate change.
Priests have been issued with new guidelines stating that members of the clergy should be ‘promoters’ of ‘appropriate care for everything connected to the protection of creation’.
The Mail Online reports:
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The Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences has ruled that climate change is real and caused by human activity.
Members of the church have been urged to spread the message in a non-political manner.
A report on catholic.org states: ‘The aim is not political. The Church does not advocate for any policies that will erode basic freedoms or human rights.
‘Instead, the Church advocates awareness, conservation, and management of our planet’s resources for the good of all, and not just for the benefit of a mere few.’
But it said that environmental awareness should not be at the expense of development.
The report continues: ‘It does no good to preserve a forest if the people who live in it must starve.
‘But environmental stewardship is not a zero sum game, nor is economics. There are ways forward that are moral, and mutually beneficial for both the people and the environment.’
The church argues that encouraging priests to talk to their clergy will encourage a ‘moral’ solution to environmental issues.
