Rome, Italy, Apr 29, 2015 / 12:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- With experts and global leaders looking to Pope Francis as a moral compass, his upcoming encyclical on the environment could set a key ethical framework for discussion and policies surrounding the topic. “We look to Pope Francis as a great moral leader for all humanity, all people here from every walk of life and every religion. His encyclical will make a huge difference. It's being expected around the world with great anticipation,” Jeffrey Sachs told CNA April 28. “The whole world looks to Pope Francis for inspiration, and that's well beyond the Roman Catholics in the world, it’s all of us,” he said, adding that the Pope's encyclical will play “a huge role” in the climate change discussion. Sachs is the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and a special adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who was present in Rome for a one-day summit on climate change and sustainable development hosted by the Pontifical Academy for the Sciences. Titled “Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity,” the April 28 summit focused on strengthening the global consensus surrounding the topic of climate change as something with an adverse effect on every aspect of society. The event also serves as a precursor to the publication of Pope Francis’ anticipated encyclical on environmental degradation and the global effects of climate change on the poor. Expected to be published in mid-late June, the document has already been written and is currently being translated. For Sachs, who is also a member of the Pontifical Academy for the Sciences, the context of sustainable development in the encyclical “is very helpful” in creating a holistic framework that builds economic, social and environmental awareness of the need to take care of the world in which we live. The economy, he said, “must work within a moral framework, a moral framework meaning one that can deliver for the human good. And this makes the Church’s message very important for the entire world.” Although an economy can be considered successful if it multiplies, the moral framework that ensures that the economy is serving the common good is frequently lacking, Sachs observed. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon also weighed in on the topic during a press briefing after he delivered the keynote speech for the summit. Referring to climate change as “a defining issue of our times,” Ban Ki Moon said that the Pope’s encyclical will come at a “critical” point in the discussion on the topic. Francis is set to address a U.N. Special Summit on Sustainable Development Sept. 25 during his visit to the United States, which is an address Ban Ki Moon said will have “a profound impact.” In a private meeting with Pope Francis ahead of the summit, the U.N. secretary general said he told the Pope that he’s “looking forward to his encyclical as soon as possible…I count on his moral voice and moral leadership.” Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was also present at the event, and highlighted the importance of placing a moral framework at the heart of all policies and discussion on the topic. “Without moral conversion and change of hearts, even good regulations, policies, and targets in the world are unlikely to prove effective,” he told attendees in his speech for the event. If a proper ethical foundation is lacking from the policies and their implementation, then humanity itself will lack the “courage” and moral substance to carry out event simplest proposals, the cardinal continued. In comments made to journalists during a pause in the summit, Cardinal Turkson addressed critics who find issue with the Vatican’s partnership with organizations such as the U.N. that promote population control as a means of combating climate change. Sachs himself is an avid supporter of population control despite his seat on the pontifical academy. In response to the criticism, the cardinal recalled the Second Vatican Council’s emphasis on inviting the Church to find “new ways” of ministering to the world. These new methods of engagement don’t mean running away from the world, he said, but rather establishing a dialogue that works toward “an effective solidarity” with others. What the Church has been invited to do is to explore the ways in which it can come together with secular organizations, and use the “vantage point of its revelation, doctrine and teaching (to) seek to provide some guidance and support for the world.” “So in doing this it’s not inconsistency, but it’s carrying on the mission…that’s what this is.” Although there is a lot of “discussion and dispute” in the area of climate change, the cardinal stressed that it’s an issue that can only be solved by pooling the resources of economic, political and faith leaders. The “moral obligation” of preserving and caring for the planet is one which “extends to all – political leaders, corporate leaders, civil society and ordinary people too,” he said, and noted that the concept of sustainable development is one that the entire community of nations ought to embrace. Ban Ki Moon also emphasized the necessity for collaboration, saying that climate change and sustainable development are issues which demand a “collective action.” “The faith leaders gathered here today, together with the scientists, are united in reminding us that addressing climate change is an urgent moral imperative.” To care for both the climate and those that suffer from the impact of climate change, particularly the poor and most vulnerable, “is a moral responsibility. All people of faith and conscience can agree upon this,” he said. Sachs also weighed in, noting that climate change is “a human challenge at global scale” that requires all parts of the world and society to work together. “It requires the moral leadership of the world’s religions, it requires the science of the world’s climate and earth science experts, it requires the best technologists and technological businesses…working together there are practical solutions, and that’s what we need to find,” he said. He stressed the importance of working from a moral framework in the discussion, and explained that by raising the moral context that will be given in Francis’ encyclical, “we will see that that economic productivity that is worldwide can be harnessed in a far more affective way.” Read more

Rome, Italy, Apr 28, 2015 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In an effort to abolish the production of nuclear weapons worldwide, the Holy See is pushing an agreement – with a deadline – between nations, which zeros-in on the use of nuclear energy for positive social development. The Holy See will promote the terms about an eventual agenda to nuclear disarmament at the upcoming Treaty of the Non Proliferation of Nuclear weapons conference held at the United Nations in New York from April 27 to May 22.   A source involved in the negotiations but not authorized to publicly comment on the issue explained to CNA April 22 that the Holy See's approach is “more global than the so called 'step by step' approach, which seems to be another way to say that nuclear weapons will remain, since the negotiations might be never ending.”   The Holy See will foster this position during the Review Conference of the Non Proliferation Treaty. Aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, the treaty promotes cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy and furthering the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament.   However, the Vatican source explained that the geopolitical situation may lead to a weak final document at the conference, which would postpone the issues at stake. Reasons why the document might be weak are – according to the source – the ongoing Ukrainian and Middle East situations, and tense relations between the United States and Russia. Since the Non Proliferation treaty went into effect in 1970, and conferences to review it have been held at five year intervals. The 2015 conference is expected to consider a number of issues, the most important being the universality of the treaty, the practical measures to nuclear to disarmament, and measures to advance the peaceful use of nuclear energy.   In the course of years, the Holy See has developed a nuanced position toward nuclear issue. As a founding member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Holy See has historically fostered a peaceful use of the nuclear energy.   In a speech delivered to the agency in September of 2014, Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, Vatican deputy foreign minister, stressed that the agency “contributes to authentic human development and foster peace and prosperity throughout the world.”   Msgr. Cammilleri also listed all the fields which benefits from nuclear technology: from healthcare to agriculture, and from quality of nutrition to the fight against devastating pests.   While the Holy See praised the achievements of nuclear technology but discussion remains on how the use and production of nuclear energy should be fostered. Producing nuclear energy also produces nuclear waste, which needs to be placed in and kept under special conditions for decades. Ultimately, the Holy See says yes to nuclear technology – despite some caveats on the production and use of nuclear energy – and it categorically refuses any use of nuclear weapons.   In December 2014, a conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons took place in Vienna. Speaking at the meeting, Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi, Holy See Permanent Observer to the United Nations office in Geneva, underscored “the positive steps made” toward “the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.” He stressed, however, that the Holy See “still thinks these steps are limited, insufficient, and frozen in space and time.” Read more

Rome, Italy, Apr 28, 2015 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Lucia Annunziata, a journalist who directs and edits the Italian edition of The Huffington Post, has accused the political left in Western nations of remaining silent before ongoing massacres of Christians, which she called the “most horrible of the crimes perpetrated against the weakest.” The self-proclaimed atheist also complained that young journalists are not proposing to The Huffington Post stories relating the situation of persecuted Christians. “I ask myself where is the Left, with a capital L, the social party wide as it is because of its history and principles, because it is outside of the cages of daily life, and loves itself because it is attached to its own sense of justice,” Annunziata wrote in an op-ed published earlier this month. This wide party, she continued, has remained silent “in front of the most terrible of crimes against the weakest … the massacres of Christians whose blood is shed in many parts of the world.” “Why have I not received any petition to sign, though I receive many of varied kinds? Why has no-one promoted, if not a public protest, a sit-in, or a meeting? I hear no slogans for persecuted Christians, nor do I get documents or petitions on the issue,” Annunziata complained. She lamented that “television is elsewhere, but that neither are young or ambitious journalists pushing The Huffington Post to give voice to these newly weak and helpless.” Noting the situation of the political left in Italy, Annunziata noted it has “taken up a huge number of causes,” listing women's issues, youth unemployment, gay marriage, institutional reform, internet freedoms, innovation, poverty, austerity, the Islamic State, war, and the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and Tunisia's Bardo Museum. However, she added, “with few exceptions, never does the Left express pain or horror for the men and women who die because of their faith.” Annunziata called death the “final violation of the most important right of personal freedom,” and noted that Christianity is the faith of most Italians as well as serving as “the basis of the definition of the history and culture” of Europe. She underscored that she is not Catholic, but “atheistic, and willing to remain so,” and has not been a cheerleader for Pope Francis. Yet as a journalist, she emphasized that “the news is the loneliness of this very popular Pope, who has been for months the sole voice to denounce the massacre of the faithful, and is presently the only head of state capable of pointing the finger against the immobility of Western countries over these massacres” against Christians – unlike what happened after the massacre at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. According to Annunziata, the reason for Western countrys' silence in front of the massacres of Christians is “the fear that defending Christians means activating other mines in the already tough struggle, thus giving the ‘green light’ to a reaction and finally legitimizing” the claims of Rightist political parties which are “already fanning the flames of racism and of the clash of civilizations” for their own interests. “Respect for human rights is the first sacrificial victim of the reason of state,” and this is why “the Left, as the political party that always claimed the strength and conviction to engage in the defense of the weakest” should take some stance, since this party has “a great deal of clout in Western countries.” Annunziata proposes that “governments draft a plan to put thousands of refugees in safety” – providing them shelter, schools, and healthcare facilities, but also providing “citizenship to all the families willing to flee their countries,” with peculiar attention to “all the young people willing to come to Europe to study or work.” This effort may be compared to that put into action by Western countries for thousands of Jewish victims of Nazism following the Second World War. “This is not much, but it is a beginning, and also an effective message of moral strength and solidarity to oppose the violence of ISIS,” Annunziata concluded. Read more