Pope Francis addressed one of the thorniest issues in American politics on Wednesday with a White House speech explicitly supporting Barack Obama’s plan to cut carbon emissions and chastising climate change deniers for failing in their duty to protect our “common home”.
In a tougher-than-expected call for action on global warming, the spiritual leader of more than 70 million American Catholics defied calls among some Republicans to steer clear of politics by making clear he believed this was a moral issue.
“Climate change is a problem that can no longer be left to a future generation,” said the pope, who invited contrast with the civil rights struggle by invoking the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr in support of his argument.
Barack Obama introduced the welcoming ceremony, the pope’s first public event of the six-day trip to the United States, as a moment to “shake our conscience from slumber”.
Pope Francis calls for urgent action on climate change in White House speech by Dan Roberts in Washington & Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome, The Guardian, Sep 23, 2015
Read original article at 2015 SkS Weekly Digest #39
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