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Cardinal Joseph TobinClaire Chretien / LifeSiteNews

NEWARK, New Jersey, May 4, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – One of the most liberal cardinals in the United States has come out in favor of the globalist Paris Climate Agreement and has called on President Trump to return to the controversial Agreement.

In a press release dated May 2nd, the Archdiocese of Newark announced that Cardinal Joseph Tobin joined Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, Iowa in adding their names to the U.S. Catholic Climate Declaration.

Tobin has been a leading advocate for LGBT acceptance within the Catholic Church since being elevated to the Cardinalate in 2016 by Pope Francis.

The declaration, which is not an official document of the Church but rather a petition created by the Catholic Climate Covenant, a D.C.-based nonprofit established by the United States Bishops conference in 2006, calls on the United States to rejoin the Obama-era Paris Agreement.

In signing the document, Cardinal Tobin said that the “Archdiocese of Newark joins with other institutions from across American society to ensure that the United States remains a global leader in reducing emissions. We call for the [Trump] Administration to join the global community and return to the Paris Agreement.” 

Drawing from Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si and other USCCB statements, the declaration urges protection for the “human” and “natural” environment in order to avoid the “most dangerous effects” of so-called “climate change.” 

The declaration relies heavily on secular terminology, placing blame on “unchecked human activity” and greenhouse gas emissions as the reason why “human-forced climate change” is occurring to our “common home.”

195 countries, including the United States, signed on to the Paris Agreement in December 2015. However, President Trump announced his intent to withdraw support for it on June 1, 2017, claiming it would “undermine” the American economy.

The Paris Agreement has been roundly criticized by pro-life and pro-family leaders, primarily because it calls for “gender equality” and “empowerment of women,” phrases that critics say are used to push the LGBT agenda, contraception, and abortion.

The Paris Agreement also supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals is to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls,” and to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive rights.

Perhaps the most peculiar section of the U.S. Catholic Climate Declaration is the part that reads: “we are still in on actions that meet the climate goals outlined in the Paris Agreement.”

The choice of the phrase “we are still in” appears to be used intentionally. As reported by the liberal National Catholic Reporter, that particular phrase appears to be an allusion to the nation-wide “We Are Still In” coalition that includes more than 2,600 elected officials, business and university leaders, religious groups, and others who also support the Paris Agreement. 

The “We Are Still In” network is run by partisans of the far-left.

Coordinated in part by the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress, and closely allied with pro-abortion California Governor Jerry Brown, We Are Still In issued an open letter four days after President Trump’s decision that calls for, among other things, limiting greenhouse gas emissions and keeping temperature growth to less than 2℃.

When read side by side, phrases in the Catholic Climate Covenant’s declaration and the We Are Still In open letter are eerily similar, in some cases almost word for word. 

A closer look at the Catholic Climate Covenant’s past reveals that for years it has been working with what Catholic activist Deal Hudson, the former editor of Crisis Magazine, has called the “Who’s Who of the Catholic Left.”

On the “Our Partners” section of its website, Catholic Climate Covenant lists among its supporters the condom-distributing Catholic Relief Services, the feminist-supporting Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and the seamless garment of life-promoting Franciscan Action Network.

The pro-Obamacare Catholic Health Association, lead by dissident nun Sr. Carol Keehan, is also mentioned as an ally.

Bishop Richard Pates is the Episcopal Liaison for Catholic Climate Covenant and serves on its Board. While Pates has defended Church teaching on marriage in the past, Bishop Pates attended liberal Cardinal Blase Cupich’s conference on Amoris Laetitia at Boston College last October. 

Having reached the age of 75 on February 12, Pates recently tendered his resignation and will step down as Bishop of Des Moines in the near future.

Cardinal Tobin has urged all Catholic parishes, schools, and institutions within the Archdiocese of Newark to sign on to the U.S. Catholic Climate Declaration.

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