VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — As part of its push for an “ecological conversion,” the Vatican has partnered with a Swedish climate “sustainability” group, issuing resources to tackle “climate change” which will be sent out to thousands of parishes across the world.
On February 14, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development joined with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) to promote a booklet and website focusing on “climate change,” both jointly created by the Dicastery and the SEI.
The booklet is “inspired” by Pope Francis’ 2015 environmental encyclical Laudato si, and states that the encyclical “raises questions” that “are a priority for Pope Francis, the Catholic Church and all believers, the scientific community, and all citizens, as we answer the call to protect and regenerate our common home.”
READ: Laudato Si’ ignores real gains for the environment and the poor
Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the dicastery, which Francis created in 2017, stated that the book and the accompanying website “represent[] an important and hopeful collaboration between two great sectors: that of science, and that of faith.”
Czerny added that the joint project “invites us to come together and act on many manifestations of a warming climate and ecological breakdown, from food waste to air pollution, from water insecurity to biodiversity loss.”
The booklet itself covers topics including “climate change, biodiversity, water, food production, air pollution, sustainable consumption, and links between sustainability and social justice.”
Presenting “succinct science” on the topic of “climate change” the booklet is interspersed with quotations from Laudato si and closes with Francis’ “prayer for the earth,” which is taken from the 2015 encyclical.
The booklet calls on people to “renew our relationship with the planet,” which – the text states – is undergoing “a climate crisis driven by economic and social systems that run on fossil fuels.”
“The fossil fuel economy is the main cause of global warming,” read the opening pages of the booklet, before arguing that:
Without a far-reaching response, a changing climate will undermine the conditions that have allowed us to thrive on our planet. To tackle this crisis we need to make fundamental changes to our economies and behaviour, to shift our everyday patterns of consumption, and to advance social justice. But the tools we need to take action are in our hands.
“By 2050 we would need three planets to support current lifestyles,” the booklet argues: “Since 1970 we have been consuming more than the planet can sustain.”
The booklet further states that “we have not acted fast enough” in implementing the policies of the pro-abortion 2015 Paris Climate Agreement – a text which the Vatican officially signed on to just last year.
Echoing language commonly employed by globalist entities such as the World Economic Forum or the WHO, the jointly published book argued that:
We cannot overcome the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, nor overcome pollution, resource degradation, poverty and injustice, without transforming outmoded patterns of behaviour, culture and economics. We must move beyond an exploitative relationship to our planet towards one based on stewardship and care. While such a transformation has already begun, the gravity of the situation demands greater action.
Vatican’s climate policies to be spread to world’s churches
The partnership between the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the SEI is a welcome one for both parties. For the Vatican, the partnership represents a fresh way to continue the papally-backed mission of promoting “climate change” talking points and policies.
Cardinal Czerny noted that in collaborating with the SEI, “[w]hile starting from complementary worldviews, what we hold in common is what matters – science and faith share core values and purpose capable of healing the world.”
READ: Pope encourages global leaders to fulfill goals of pro-abortion climate change pact
Meanwhile, Sweden’s ambassador to the Holy See, who greatly spearheaded the project, highlighted the value of the SEI promoting “climate change” issues alongside the Vatican. “The value of collaborating with the Holy See on global issues is, I believe, sometimes overlooked, especially in the non-Catholic world,” said Ambassador Andrés Jato.
Jato described the Holy See as having “an unprecedented ability to connect to people’s hearts and minds and that has a global infrastructure that allows it to reach out to every corner in the world.”
The booklet is not set to be a mere bureaucratic demonstration of ecological concern, however. In fact, the Vatican sees the current partnership as a way to practically push its “green” concerns in Catholic parishes around the world.
Czerny’s Dicastery noted that it “is ready to distribute more than 500 000 print copies of the booklet to parishes around the world, and SEI and the Dicastery will work together to promote the project online and highlight the changes that it inspires.”
READ: Pope Francis launches ‘ecological conversion’ training center at papal summer residence
Indeed, such action is already being taken by the Vatican. The Laudato Si’ Action Platform, born to promote the encyclical of the same name along with its ecological issues, numbers “50 dioceses and 385 parishes, 540 religious congregations and 700 religious communities, 1050 educational institutions, and 800 hospitals, healthcare agencies, businesses and organizations around the world,” according to its director.
This is merely the latest of a number of actions in recent months and years whereby the Vatican has signaled its adherence to, and often ardent promotion of, “climate change” arguments.
Pro-life and family advocates have continually expressed concern over the climate activism movement, as it is often aligned with pro-abortion and population control advocates and lobby groups. Others say much of climate activism is about garnering government grants and exerting statist power.
READ: How global warming alarmism is being used to promote population control and abortion
As already noted on numerous occasions by LifeSiteNews, the Paris Agreement is indeed pro-abortion and connects to the stated U.N. goal of creating a universal right to abortion in line with Goal #5.6 of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Yet only last year, the Vatican’s support for the Paris Agreement changed from passive to active, when it officially joined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Climate Agreement.
In a conference to mark the official start of the Vatican’s membership, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin stated that “[t]he so-called socio-ecological crisis is a propitious moment for our conversion and for decisions that can no longer be postponed.”