A piece in National Journal will no doubt have the far left fit to be tied. Apparently Pope Francis believes what the headline says: Climate change and abortion are interrelated. So what does he mean by that?
On his radio show today Rush Limbaugh speculated that the pope is essentially saying, “Look, you cannot have an attitude that says we must do everything to save the planet and be pro-choice at the same time. If you’re gonna be an environmentalist wacko, if you’re gonna devote yourself to saving the planet via climate change, you had better stop killing embryos.” If Rush is right, the left will be furious with “Il Papa” over the “curve ball” he threw.
National Journal’s Clare Foran and Jason Plautz have the full report:
Rush Limbaugh: “The pope has thrown one of the biggest curveballs at the American left I can remember.” Photo courtesy rushlimbaugh.com
Pope Francis has unveiled an encyclical—a rare and influential Vatican statement—on climate change and the environment.
The highly anticipated document says that global warming is real, is caused partly by human activity, and is a grave threat to humanity. The Vatican hopes it will pave the way for a strong international climate deal later this year when diplomats descend on Paris for United Nations talks. But Pope Francis wants the encyclical to be read by everyone—and the Vatican hopes that the document will influence much more than just the Paris talks.
And just so his message is clear, the Vatican’s official Twitter account, @Pontifex, has been active Thursday morning with blunt views from the pope. “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth,” reads one tweet.
Here are six key points from the encyclical.
Population Control Is Not the Answer
For Pope Francis, caring about the environment goes hand in hand with taking a strong stand against abortion. “Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion,” the encyclical says. “How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties?” (emphasis added)
Francis suggests that efforts to slow population growth are misguided and a distraction from the underlying cause of the world’s environmental crisis—the hoarding of the Earth’s resources by the rich and powerful. “To blame population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues,” the encyclical says. Continue reading
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