Release of encyclical reveals pope’s deep dive into climate science (answers)

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Headline: Release of encyclical reveals pope’s deep dive into climate science

Byline: By Anthony Faiola, Michelle Boorstein and Chris Mooney June 18 at 3:10 PM

Placeline: VATICAN CITY

Lead

What: Pope Francis unmasks himself not only as a very green pontiff, but also as a total policy wonk.

Where: Vatican.

Who: Pope Francis

When: Thursday

Why: He warns of “synthetic agrotoxins” harming birds and insects and “bioaccumulation” from industrial waste.

How: Any part in these paragraphs:

“In the 192-page paper released Thursday, Francis lays out the argument for a new partnership between science and religion to combat human-driven climate change — a position bringing him immediately into conflict with skeptics, whom he chides for their “denial.”

Francis urges taking public transit, carpooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, recycling — and boycotting certain products. He called for an “ecological conversion” for the faithful”.

 

Body. From the most to the least important detail:

1.- “The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth,” Francis wrote, blaming a toxic cocktail of overconsumption, consumerism, dependence on fossil fuels and the errant indifference of the powerful and wealthy. He described a hell on Earth should nothing be done, one filled with more methane and carbon dioxide, acidification of oceans and the crippling of the global food supply.

2.- Nevertheless, green activists held out hope that the pope’s message would touch religious skeptics of climate change — particularly those who are Catholic. In the document, a reforming pope who has set a new tone for the Church on issues including homosexuality laid out a green view of faith that embraced the moral imperatives of everything from animal rights to solar panels.

3.- “It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment,” he writes.

4.- As the Vatican rolled out the official version to scenes of Francis on a big screen planting a tree, the debate over the proper role of a pope — one that was already popping up on the presidential campaign trail in the United States — immediately intensified.

5.- Catholics and non-Catholics could probably name was Humanae Vitae, which reaffirmed the ban on artificial contraception in the 1960s.

 

Simple true statements:

• A highly accurate draft, which leaked Monday in the Italian press, had already begun dividing politicians and theologians.
• Environmental activists, meanwhile, widely cheered the rise of an unlikely ally in the fight against climate change, one whose voice could resonate not only in major global conferences but also in prayer groups and church pews.
• Polls show that Francis, leader of the world’s largest faith community, is one of the most trusted, popular and retweeted people on the planet.
• Giuseppe Onufrio, executive director of Greenpeace in Italy who was set to join a June 28 march in St. Peter’s Square in support of the pope’s environmental stance. “Climate change is now an issue of social justice.”