Blessed Are the Climate Advocates
The Vatican and United Nations present the beatitudes of a new movement.
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his week, while at Vatican City in Rome to manage press for the first-ever meeting on climate change between Pope Francis and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, my faith in a force more powerful was renewed. I am not religious, despite being descended from a long line of Amish and Mennonite preachers. But at the climate confab, I became a believer again. And I wasnt alone.
It wasnt my faith in God that was renewed at the Vatican but rather a faith in our ability to get something done on climate change. And as an American, whose Congress isnt even close to acting aggressively or quickly enough on climate change, thats saying something. Even the Popes and the U.N.s top policy officials were clearly inspired by the event, which was hosted by the Vaticans Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Throughout the day I witnessed multiple about-faces of previously cynical staff rapidly turning toward optimism.
This Vatican moment was a game-changer. Science and religion were forcefully and unwaveringly aligning. Tuesdays high-level session brought together multiple presidents, CEOs, academics, scientists, and all the major religions, and ended with this final, forceful statement. The event was a prelude to the Popes summer encyclical on climate change, and it laid a solid foundation.
But more importantlyand this is why it instilled faith in many of usthe meeting featured some of the strongest words yet from the Vaticans Cardinal Peter Turkson, the Popes right-hand policy man and the drafter of the first round of what will eventually be the Popes climate encyclical, and from the U.N.s Ban Ki-moon.
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