Pope Urges, Save The Planet Before It's Too Late

From Environmental News Network

Pope Urges, Save The Planet Before It's Too Late - I wonder if this extends to accepting that the over population of our planet is a serious issue. So much so that some contraception is ok.

The Vatican also recently launched their own airline to fly Catholics around the world to visit holy lands.

It is great though that such a significant organisation has come to the realisation that we are ruining this planet and that changes must be made sooner rather than later.

LORETO, Italy (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, leading the Catholic Church's first 'eco-friendly' youth rally, on Sunday told up to half a million people that world leaders must make courageous decisions to save the planet "before it is too late".

"A decisive 'yes' is needed in decisions to safeguard creation as well as a strong commitment to reverse tendencies that risk leading to irreversible situations of degradation," the 80-year-old Pope said.

Wearing green vestments, he spoke to a crowd of mostly young people sprawled over a hillside near the Adriatic city of Loreto on the day Italy's Catholic Church marks it annual Save Creation Day.

More than 300,000 people had slept on blankets and in tents or prayed during the night. Organizers said they were joined by some 200,000 more who arrived from throughout Italy on Sunday.

"New generations will be entrusted with the future of the planet, which bears clear signs of a type of development that has not always protected nature's delicate equilibriums," the Pope said, speaking from a white stage.

In one of his strongest environmental appeals, Benedict said: "Courageous choices that can re-create a strong alliance between man and earth must be made before it is too late."

The Pope closed the rally with a Sunday morning mass.

It was the first environmentally friendly youth rally, a break from gatherings that have left tonnes of garbage.

Participants had backpacks made of recyclable material, flashlights operated by a crank instead of batteries, and color-coded trash bags so personal garbage could be easily recycled. Meals were served on biodegradable plates.

Tens of thousands of prayer books for Sunday's mass were printed on recycled paper and an adequate number of trees will be planted to compensate for the carbon produced at the event, many in areas of southern Italy devastated by recent brushfires.

Under Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, the Vatican has become progressively "green", installing photovoltaic cells on buildings to produce electricity and hosting a scientific conference to discuss global warming and climate change.

Benedict voiced concern about a breakdown of the traditional family and in his Sunday homily told young people to "go against the current" and challenge "seductive" media messages promoting materialism, consumerism and fleeting pleasures.

Loreto is famous in the Catholic world for the "holy house of the Madonna", a small stone structure purported to be where Mary grew up in the Holy Land and where she was told by an angel she would give birth to Jesus although a virgin.

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

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World's churches go green and rally to cause

Tue Feb 6, 2007
From Reuters.

LONDON (Reuters) - Dire warnings from top scientists that mankind is to blame for global warming set off alarm bells everywhere -- but many of the world's churches have already "gone green" in the race to save the planet.

For Christians, Jews and Muslims, the message is the same -- mankind has "stewardship" of the earth which it has a duty to protect for future generations.

And environmentalists hailed churches for stepping up to the plate with a real sense of urgency.

"Caring for the environment is a key part of many religions. Any contribution which highlights and tackles issues such as climate change is very welcome," said Mike Childs of Friends of the Earth.

Last week's Doomsday warning from a U.N. panel of scientists -- temperatures are rising inexorably and mankind is the culprit -- dramatically underlined how the clock is ticking.

That gave added impetus to the campaign and religious environmentalists say pious words of intent are not enough.

Martin Robra, climate change spokesman for the World Council of Churches grouping 560 million Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican Christians, said the debate "must now shift from denial and delays to responsibility and remedies well within humanity's grasp."

So what are the churches doing?

The tide shows signs of turning in the United States, which is responsible for one quarter of the world's emissions of carbon dioxide and uses one quarter of the world's crude oil.

A group of 85 evangelical Christian leaders this month kicked off a campaign to mobilize religious conservatives to combat global warming.

With full-page newspaper advertisements and a television ad, they declared "With God's help, we can stop global warming for our kids, our world and our Lord."

CREATION CARE NEEDED

The push for "creation care" -- the idea that the environment is a divine creation that must be protected by humans -- was highly successful with its "What Would Jesus Drive?" campaign to get Americans to use more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, drives an eco-friendly car, bangs the green drum and argues "We are consumers of what God has made. We are in communion with it."

Catholics are also very much singing from the same hymn sheet with Pope Benedict making protection of the environment one of the keynotes of his papacy.

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