Laudato Si - Addressing A Non-Existent Problem At Best, Advancing One-World Government At Worst

The pope's much ballyhooed encyclical is scheduled to be released next week.  There are reports that it has already been named "Laudato Si" (taken from St. Francis' "Canticle of the Sun").  We don't know what the thing contains, although the players involved give us a good idea of its main thrust.  As stated last month, this encyclical has significant progressive input, most notably from abortion advocate Jeffrey Sachs.  I link now to an anthology of posts that I've written that detail the malevolence of his beliefs.  The first post that appears when you click the link details the report that came from the meeting in late April hosted by both the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.  Please note the explicit call for population control.  Further down, you'll see a video by American Life League that exposes more of the harm wrought by Sachs.

A few weeks ago LifeSiteNews put forth a piece to ask why Sachs, given the information set forth by American Life League, would ever have been invited to the Vatican to offer input for an encyclical.  Given the fact that Sachs has been very up front about his advocacy for abortion, sterilization and contraception, we can only imagine that some at high levels of the Vatican share Sach's decidedly anti-life proclivities.  One such person might be Margaret Archer, who is president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.  Here is her profile from the Vatican website.  In all the gobblygoop that she herself wrote, there are some key omissions.  Read through it and notice that you'll not find once the words "God", "Jesus Christ", "Catholic", "Church", "morals", nor any mentions of the key social encyclicals throughout the decades.  "Why is that important?" you may ask.  Well, I dunno!  I guess that because she's head of a Vatican function, we might have hoped for at least some perfunctory lip service to Catholic social teaching.  Indeed, I wonder if she's even Catholic.  At any rate, her unquestioning belief in the global warming canard is so staunch as to cause her to vent her spleen at questions posed by C-Fam.  Her rancor caused Austin Ruse to bestow upon her (and others) the title of "Bullies For Francis".

There is no doubt that Laudato Si will, at the very least, pave the way for progressives to exercise even more control over Church hierarchy and even world politics; both progressives and conservatives see that coming.  Canada Free Press highlights an article that Sachs wrote in America.  In that article, Sachs voiced his belief that the principles manifest in the US Declaration of Independence must surrender to world government.  The CFP article outlines how Sachs, Ki Moon and others hope that the encyclical will pave the way for one world government.  For an example of progressive gloating and cackling over this encycical, click here; at least they understand it to be revolutionary, even from their warped perspectives.  Aside: as much as he rants against "capitalism", socialism can only be worse.

The rollout of the encyclical next week will be accompanied by some speakers.  Among them is Professer John Schnellnhuber.  This founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research believes the "carrying capacity" of the planet for population is under 1 billion people.  In other words, according to this guy, there are 6 billion too many people currently inhabiting earth.  Just how he intends to correct what he believes to be a "problem" is anyone's nightmare.

Speaking of nightmares, who remembers this from 2008?  According to ABC back then, New York City was supposed to have been submerged by now (remember melting glaziers and drowning polar bears?)  Courtesy of Media Research Council, here's a memory refresher.  This encyclical, at best, will be addressing a non-existent problem.

Pope Francis Appoints Jeffrey Sachs To Pontifical Academy Of Social Sciences

Readers of this blog will recall that I've written much about Jeffrey Sachs.  He is a population control proponent who has openly advocated for contraception and abortion as means of "reaching a level and sustainable population".   Because (not "despite" but "because") of that, he has been quite a fixture about the Vatican these past several years, having weighed in on Laudato Si, possibly Amoris Laetitia and various synod reports.  In short, his pernicious and spiritually deadly musings have been promulgated by the Vatican.

Sachs, with Jewish roots, has never announced any conversion to Catholicism although he claims Catholic social teaching has influenced him.  Of course that influence is of the progressive "social justice warrior" variety that is merely a facade for all things atheist and socialist, as evinced by his advocacy of baby-slaughter and his silence regarding human rights abuses in Red China.

I suppose all this, in the eyes of this current pope, makes Sachs a prime candidate for a position in the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.  That's right!  A non-Christian pro-abort is now occupying an official position within a Vatican organization. 

Please pray your Rosaries and please prepare to resist this pope when what he says or does runs counter to the Faith and Christian morality.

Pope Embracing Envirowhackoism For Deconstruction Of The Faith

The blog Non Veni Pacem put up some commentary regarding the murder of Natacha Jaitt in Argentina that occurred two weeks before she was to testify against Gustavo Vera, long-time friend of Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis.  Security cameras detected suspicious activity in the area just after Jaitt died.  The blogger pointed out that Vera and Jeffrey Sachs were speakers at a Vatican conference held March 4-5.  The conference focused on Laudato Si and Sachs shilled for the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.  Journalists were not invited to this pow-wow.  Well, golly-jee!  I wonder why???

Just a few days after that gab-fest, Pope Francis spoke at another - this with a specific goal of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.  Now read closely what the pope is saying.  He's talking about conversion in implementing this thinly-disguised propaganda for population control and earth-worship.  One does not talk of "conversion" unless one is changing their beliefs and actions regarding God and morality.  He's advocating rank idolatry.  The blogger whom I cited in the main paragraph states that Raul Duarte has some "splainin" to do.  Well he's not the only one with "splainin" to do - I refer to the pope.  By the way, as you read the CNA piece, did you notice all the people who seem to be leaders of false religions?  If the pope wanted actual conversions, he passed up a golden opportunity for preaching the Faith (as is his mission); that's more "splainin" that he'll need to do.

In more toadying to envirowhacko population-control enthusiasts, the pope will participate in a "Pan Amazon Synod" in Brazil in October.  As Bradley Eli put it, "The Pan-Amazon Synod will be focusing on environmentalism and social justice issues rather than on strengthening the faith of Catholics, who are losing their religion."  Once upon a time, I thought that this lack of proper focus was merely thoughtless neglect.  I now believe that this loss of Godly faith is by design.  Take a look at that picture of the pope.  It is most inappropriate for the Vicar of Christ to festoon himself in pagan gee-gaw, and grin while holding a picture of himself surrounded by pagan imagery.

American Life League Urges Investigation Catholic "Social Justice" Organizations

Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia Universtiy professor, is a population control advocate.  He has often said that one of the best ways to fight poverty is to reduce human population vis-a-vis sterilization, contraception and abortion.  This blog, and others, have pointed out over the years that many anti-poverty and population-control types have espoused identical anti-human views.  Similarly, many "environmental" and "climate change" proponents have advocated the reduction of the human population.

So who is lauding and celebrating Sachs?  The USCCB, Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities and Catholic Campaign for Human Development.  All but the Catholic Relief Services have come under this blog's scrutiny; perhaps that is an oversight that I need to correct.  Read more details at this Lifesite News post.  Note that a 100-page report is promised presently.  I'll link to that as soon as I learn of it.  Note as of 7/14/13; the Lifesite news post was taken down, but archived here.

Here are some of my past posts on these matters.  Because I do link to excellent outside sources, I urge their study.  Here are some posts on "climate change"; note especially the Aug 6 2010 post.  Here are some post related to "poverty".  There are definitely some common themes here!

Michael Hichborn of the American Life League released a video today exposing some of the relevant points of Sach's chequered career.  I post that below.  NOTE: the link has been updated as of 7/14/13.

See the post dated 7/14/13 for more detail on why the two links are updates.

Pontifical Academy of Sciences Shills For Satanic Population Control

Two days ago I commented on how the Vatican - right up to the top! - made utter fools of themselves by hosting the progressive gab-fest entitled "Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity: The Moral Dimensions of Climate Change and Sustainable Development".  Now that it's over (for the time being) we can read its report here.  It is entitled "Climate Change and The Common Good: A Statement Of The Problem And The Demand For Transformative Solutions".   I'll note a few things below:

• William Briggs offers commentary at Crisis Magazine.  It's well worth a read.
• This report was penned before the meeting on Tuesday.  Yes, before!  Does that have a familiar ring to it?  Think back about 5-6 months!  Yes!  The uber-heretical interim report of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family was likewise written beforehand, with only limited input.
• One of the select few who had input into this pig-slop of a report was none other than Jeffrey Sachs; see the post from two days ago.
• The whole thing reads like a "doom and gloom if we don't bow before the idol of global warming" tome.  I'm surprised Al Gore didn't have a hand in writing this nonsense!

I'll now pull a quote from page 8 of the report (page 9 of the pdf) so you can understand just how inimical this thing is.  It isn't just harmless nonsense; it's really quite dangerous.  To wit:

"Over the 10,000 years that humans have depended on agriculture, it has been spread over a third of the earth’s land surface, doubtless causing the extinction of at least hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of species of organisms in the process. During the last two centuries, however, our numbers have grown at an unprecedented rate from one billion to more than seven billion people, with expectations for ever-increasing consumption rising even faster than the populations themselves. Although we are an inseparable part of the living world, entirely dependent on it for every aspect of our lives, we are destroying it with blinding speed through habitat destruction, global climate change, moving invasive species (including pests and parasites) rapidly throughout the world, and harvesting many kinds of wild plants and animals unsustainably. Considering the fact that we have found and named only a small proportion of the species of organisms that occur on earth, we will never even be directly aware of most of those that we drive and have driven to extinction. Our activities constitute a direct rejection of the Biblical injunction to care for the world by good stewardship: they not only deny benefits that we enjoy now to future generations but also seriously threaten global sustainability. The destruction of so many of what are, as far as we know, our only living companions in the universe, is clearly, as Harvard Professor E.O. Wilson has put it, the sin for which our descendants will be least likely to forgive us, as it is completely irreversible. To save as much of the sustainable fabric of the world as possible, we need to take many steps, among them reaching a level and sustainable population; just consumption rates throughout the world..."

Did you catch that?  They (probably Sachs) were quite sly in insinuating the concept of population control in there.  That's the whole satanic idea!  And yes, I do intend that adjective to be taken literally!  Think of it!  Just who/what do they think is qualified to decide what constitutes a "level and sustainable population"?  A one-world government?  How do they intend to achieve this arbitrary level?  Contraception and abortion, of course!  And what, pray tell, will they do with those unruly types who will not swallow the progressive schtick?  Just where is this leading us?  If you haven't already, please go to my post two days ago and review the Voris clip; we need to have our eyes wide open.

On the bottom of that page and going onto the next page, we see an outright endorsement of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.  The Voice of the Family yesterday issued a statement detailing why these SDG's - and this statement by the PAS - are a direct threat to unborn children.  This is no surprise coming from the UN (also known as Useless Nincompoops) but now we have thrust in our faces the horrible spectacle of the Vatican striking hands with the UN in this murderous venture.

As we await, with understandable concern, the pope's statement on the environment, we must recall that he can pronounce infallibly only on matters of faith and morals - and even then under the most specific of circumstances.  If there are errors therein, we are not only free to respectfully object to them but we are duty-bound to so so.

Pope Francis Did Obescience To Climate-Change Junk Science

Does my post title seem "mean-spirited"?  Guess again!  If only his actions were no more harmful than gullibly glomming onto a scam.  Alas, such is not the case.  By hosting today's conference on the "environment" today at the Vatican (via the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences), the pope has lent undeserved credibility to anti-life forces.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, were in attendance.  Voice of the Family issued a statement detailing their concerns regarding these individuals and their advocacies for abortion and "population control".  The statement can be read at LifeSiteNews.  The presence of these two causes many faithful Catholics much concern, especially as this summit occurs so close to the scheduled release of the much-ballyhooed papal encyclical on the environment.

Also of concern is the apparent bias towards blind acceptance of the climate-change junk science, a bias that seems to have made itself manifest in stifling the voices of those who differ from the progressives in attendance.  Read this first-hand account of the treatment meted out to known opponents of the climate-change mantra during the meeting.  One of those who dared to think independently (and who was under watch durng the meeting) was Lord Christopher Monckton.  Speaking beforehand at a meeting held by the Heartland Institute and Cornwall Alliance, had some very direct words for the pope.  He said to him in abstensia and on account of the Vatican meeting, "you demean the office that you hold and you demean the church whom it is your sworn duty to protect and defend and advance."  In my opinion, Monkton is correct.  The pope has no special expertise on scientific manners; when he brings the weight of the papal office to bear on personal opinions, he not only demeans his office, but he prostitutes it.

Cardinal Pell Makes Plain Why Laudato Si Should Not Be Taken As Teaching

Cardinal Pell is to be commended for reminding the world that the Church cannot pronounce infallibly on matters of empirical science, or economics for that matter, because Our Lord has not granted her any mandate to do so.  She may teach infallibly on matters of faith and morals - but that's it.  All other matters are left to prudential judgment, given the parameters of faith and morals.  The encyclical makes pretentious claims that the "science" and "economics" promoted therein are the will of God; again that's impossible for those fields are not within the Church's competence.  One immediate outcome will be the reduction of credibility that will be ascribed when the pope does speak on matters of faith and morals, for people might understandably think that if the pope can botch up matters of science and economics in an encyclical (and he has!), why should they believe him when he speaks on matters of faith and morals?  Yes, such thinking would be erroneous and cannot be condoned, but the mess that is Laudato Si renders it understandable.

No doubt Cardinal Pell sees the potential for such real damage that Laudato Si will wreak (see here and here).  It is filled with progressive screed that not only was inspired by the rantings of Sachs and Shnellnhuber, but perhaps are the prattling of the same.  You'll notice that in the first half of the thing.  Here is a collection of my posts on LS; in those posts is a link to the English translation of the document.

The Catholic World Report recently put out a piece that takes issue with the faulty economics that are peppered throughout Laudato Si.  In Laudato Si, the pope raises the same alarmist tocsins regarding the "scarcity" of resources.  Now here's a salient point that CWR raises: "If the pope and others are ringing alarm bells, at times they seem to underestimate the creative power of human intelligence and freedom in the face of extreme scarcity of resources."  Many, if not all, progressives seem to think of man as being a mere consumer.  They fail, or more aptly, refuse to recognize that human labor and ingenuity is probably the most valuable resource imaginable.  That is why they are constantly kvetching for "population control" along with the abortion, contraception and sterilization that they think is necessary to attain "sustainable development".  That is why the "Sachs and Schnellnhuber" cabal seek to bring in others of their mindset such as Noami Klein.

This week's Catholic Standard had as its theme "preparation for the Pope's visit".  One "suggested activity" was to read Laudato Si.  I agree that it should be read so that all might see for themselves that it is permeated with progressive venom.  It is not in keeping with the traditions of our Church and must be both refused and resisted.

Pope Francis, We MUST, On Pain Of Sin, Avoid Even The Appearance Of Communism

Pope Francis, this past Monday, claimed that Christians shy from the "social gospel" because they fear that the Church will look like the Communist Party.  Of course he is trying to cajole Catholics into disregarding their common sense so that they will indeed swallow the "social gospel" crap - and eventually socialism, if not outright communism.

In light of these shameless attempts by the pope and other quasi-socialists to induce false shame into us, we must stand strong and call them out for what they are.  Here are just a few facts about this "social gospel". He is a big fan of Dorothy Day and her Catholic Worker Movement.  I don't know just what Day's original intent was for the CWM, but it has veered into socialism and dissidence.  From this page of the DC affiliate, we see that they have allowed disgraced Bishop Thomas Gumbleton to speak at their events, as well as some Pax Christi individuals.  Of course, rabidly pro-abortion Jeffrey Sachs was often invited to the Vatican to craft Laudato Si, a thinly-disguided apology for socialism, as well as population-control and climate-change junk science.

In 1984, Pope John Paul II suspended a divinis the priestly faculties of Fr. Ernesto Cardenal, when the latter held a cabinet position in Nicaragua's Sandinista government.  Cardenal had always been a Marxist involved in "liberation theology".  Pope Francis lifted the suspension.  He noted that Cardenal accepted the suspension, but there was no mention of Cardenal seeing the errors of his Marxist and liberation theology mindsets.  In this and his various document, the pope displays an untoward affinity for socialism and even communism.

Previous popes have proclaimed quite different things about socialism and communism.  They are worth a study.  They emphatically declare those philosophies to be inherently evil.  So should Christians shy away from appearing to be communists, even if they aren't - for now?  Absolutely.  1 Thessalonians 5:22 is adamant about avoiding the appearance of evil - and that is what communism is.  The so-called social gospel is a spiritual and moral booby-trap.

Climate-Change Hoax Perpetrators Revealing Their Anti-Life Motives

I was informed yesterday that my Catholic Media Coalition colleague, Stephanie Block wrote an article about a UK-based outfit called Catholic Climate Movement.  It caught my eye because a few days prior, on the aggregater site canon212.com, I saw articles in which the authors question the "morality" of having babies as the world deals with "global warming".  In this latter article, we see the anti-life underpinnings of the "climate warming" hysteria becoming more manifest; the protagonists aren't concealing it anymore - or at least not as much.

As Ms. Block says, this "Catholic climate movement" things makes reference to Laudato Si, a papal writing that is fraught with difficulties, not the least of which is the false legitimacy it lends to leading proponents of population control, such as Jeffrey Sachs and others.  I've written about these in the past.  To refresh your memories, I suggest you read these posts and the linked material, paying special attention to this expose that Michael Voris did several years ago regarding the "global warming" hoax.

In the past several years that I've been looking at these outfits, I've learned that much can be gleaned from these outfits by looking at their members, directors, and other resources, usually readily available on their sites.  This "Catholic climate movement" is no different.  Looking at their member organizations, we see quite a few of the "usual suspects":

• Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good
• Pax Christi
• Leadership Conference of Women Religious
• Franciscan Action Network - By the way, this November they are presenting a "Cardinal McCarrick award" to Karenna Gore, director of "Center for Earth Ethics".  They conveniently forget to mention that she is a daughter of Al Gore and most likely pro-abortion in her own right.
• Catholic Charities - Recall that its national CEO, Msgr John Enzler, donated to the the campaigns of two pro-abortion politicians.

That first organization, being a recipient of money from George Soros, makes me wonder how much Soros money is in this "Catholic climate movement" thing.  We know that Soros' money had a role in the murder of Terri Schiavo.

Take a look at these facts and understand how the "movers and shakers" of the climate-change hoax are playing the "social-justice" crowd for dupes.  Please warn your family, friends, etc not to swallow that kool-aid.  Ms. Block finishes her excellent article by stating that "you don't need to be Catholic to sign a climate petition".  I might have amended that to read "no real Catholic should sign this climate petition".

Pope Francis' Squandering Of $500k - Maybe More Sinister Than A Mere Insult

Take a good look at this meme to the left.  This deals with the news that Pope Francis donated the equivalent of $500k in US dollars, ostensibly to "immigrants" who are on the south side of the US-Mexican border.  They are indeed stalled there because President Trump will not allow them to conduct a de facto invasion of the United States.

Read about it from the Church Militant site.  You'll see that Michael Hichborn did some arithmetic and deduced that, given the estimates of 75,000 individuals south of the border, that some of money would only buy each one hamburger meal.  Hichborn hypothesized that it could simply be a publicity stunt meant to embarrass President Trump.  One can hope it's merely that.  What do I mean?

Let's turn our attention now to this report from the Rutherford Institute, regarding the trafficking of children for sexual exploitation.  Apparently it has become quite a sordid industry in some quarters.  So what does this have to do with this latest papal stunt?

No one who is half awake can escape the fact that many high-ranking prelates have raped young children.  We know that many children are being brought across the border for the sole purpose of being sold to perverts.  I would wager that many of those same pervert-customers are wearing Roman collars (or have worn them, in the case of the perps being caught).  Perhaps that $500k of papal money isn't really going towards hamburger meals and many of those 75,000 individuals may not see one iota of benefit at all, papal protestations to the contrary.  I've no doubt that part of the reason is to insult Trump; else, why publicize it?  If only we could follow that money as it ostensibly arrives in Mexico.  We might be surprised - or maybe not!

Even better than following that money would be reducing the amount of that money.  In a few weeks, the "Peters Pence" collection will occur.  Here is the calendar for the Archdiocese of Washington; I understand that many other areas will have that collection at the same time.  This is another one to boycott.  If the Vatican can buy hamburger meals or keep the flow of trafficked children coming into the US, not to mention hosting envirowhacko meetings with Jeffrey Sachs et al, they really don't deserve our hard-earned money.

Let's boycott the Peters Pence collection.  When that Sunday happens, don't just pass the basket along.  Drop in it your own envelope with a note in it that details why you won't donate to such an unworthy endeavor.  There are plenty of other decent charities that would put your donation dollars to excellent use.

March For Pseudo-Science; With Idea On How Catholic Church Can Really Be Green

This is a "two-part" post as the title implies.  Both parts have as their common theme environmentalism.  First, I'll deal with the junk-science aspect.

It's obvious from the name that they dubbed for their latest media stunt "March For Science" that these people are in damage-control mode.  They understand that many people in the US are fed up with their bogus, hypocritical claims.  One "case in point" was their protest of the Dakota Pipe Line.  Their protests were ostensibly for the sake of the "environment" but in their wake they left mountains of trash that required a massive clean-up effort.

So now they claim to be upholding the banner of "science"!  Really??  What science?  Well, they hold in high esteem Paul Erlich, author of "The Population Bomb".  Remember that?  That book predicted that we would all starve ourselves to death.  But that mass starvation was supposed to occur at least twenty years ago.  His book might well have been entitled "The Bomb" for his predictions fizzled out.  It's worth noting that Ehrlich advocated abortion and contraception (even forced) to reduce the world's population.

They have the audacity to claim that their "science" is settled, that it is written in stone.  Other distinguished scientists beg to differ.  I've written before on the Heartland Institute and the Cornwall Alliance.  These two organizations have done much to demonstrate the frivolity of the claims of radical environmentalists.  We also salute Lord Christopher Monkton, who speaks truth to the harm done by environmentalism, and in particular to the harm being done by the pope's participation of that hoax.

I link now to one talk given by a so-called "illuminary" of yesterday's pseudo-science gabfest.  Perhaps this speaker didn't realize how honest she was.  She flat out states that "science, arts, etc" will wither away unless the federal government funds them.  Right there we see what that whole cabal wants - more of our money and more of our liberties.

As we've seen before, Pope Francis is in on the hoax.  I no longer believe that he is simply a naive dupe of the progressives.  He is one of them.  I mentioned Paul Ehrlich earlier in this post.  Long-time readers of this blog will note that Ehrlich was invited by the Vatican to give lectures on this topic, as were Jeffrey Sachs and other anti-life people.  We also know that Laudato Si is one giant envirowhacko screed designed to give the environmentalist movement a Catholic veneer.  I now link to one of my older posts that contains two videos that expose environmentalism and its advocates.

So much for my first topic.  Now let's move to the second topic, that is, how the Church can really do something worthwhile for the environment and reduce its carbon footprint.

When many of us go to Mass, we probably use the missalette in the pew.  It's probably made of paper, and is changed periodically, to coincide with liturgical seasons, etc.  Many people who pray the liturgy of the hours probably also use a paper booklet; Magnificat is one of the more popular ones.  Then we also see the various weekly handouts that give the hymns for the day.   Readers, does that not strike you as a considerable waste of paper, not to mention the money to print those things?  Solution?  Return to the use of the missal, the breviary, and the hymnal.  I mean the permanent ones that can be used day after day, year after year.  Yes, it will involve an initial outlay of cash, but think of the savings throughout the years in reduced subscription and printing costs.  As an added bonus, there will be less need to cut down trees.  I've had my breviary set for well over twenty years, my missal ever since the changes promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI.  What do you all think of that?

Laudato Si Has Been Leaked

Reports state that L'Espresso has obtained a draft copy of the thing in the Italian language.  The Vatican "deplores" the leak, calling it a "heinous act".  That might be arguably true since it seems the entire document is itself a heinous act.

The English is not yet out (to the best of my knowledge) but here are some snippets.  Warning!  Some of these translations will have leftist leanings; of course, given what we know so far of this encyclical, these translations may well be accurate.  That doesn't mean they are factually correct, just accurate with regard to the text of the encyclical itself.  Here are some takes from National Journal; here's some from the Guardian and from the Independent.

As you read these things, it does seem that the pope has been hoodwinked into following the "man caused all this global warming and we will all die if we don't stop making carbon footprints right now!" hysteria.  At least I hope he's being hoodwinked and not deliberately colluding with the one-world-government progressives like Jeffrey Sachs.  At any rate, he has joined the progressive clamor for one-world government and population control.  Take a look at the second comment from the Independent site.  The commenter is calling on the church, in light of the Vatican's erroneous embrace of the junk science to "halt population growth" and even "reduce population"; as horrid as that sounds, it is a logical "next step" to the mental brain-rot that seems to underlie this encyclical.  As stated before, "population control" is explicitly called for by the Pontifical Academy for the Sciences.

We even see hints of earth-worship in this mess.  At the beginning, the thing says, "the earth is protesting for the wrong that we are doing to her, because of the irresponsible use and abuse of the goods that God has placed on her."  Time for some basic thoughts on what constitutes personhood.  The earth is a planet: an inanimate object.  Inanimate objects, not being persons, do not protest.  They are not sentient beings and they have neither voice nor rights.  Any inanimate object, in the singular, has the impersonal pronoun "it" assigned to it: not the personal pronouns "she" or "her".  Got that?  Sheesh!  One can wonder why he didn't go all the way and call the earth "gaia".

Elsewhere in the document the pope stated,  "in this encyclical, I especially propose to enter into discussion with everyone regarding our common home."  No he doesn't.  He means to use the weight of his holy office to cram a progressive agenda down our throats.  As for "discussion", see this post for treatment that the Vatican meted out to Lord Christopher Monckton and other scientists who oppose the "climate change" scam.  In that post, I voiced my opinion that the Holy Father, by throwing the weight of the papacy behind global warming, is prostituting the dignity and authority of the Chair of Peter.  I not only stand behind by statement, I reiterate it.

The Independent article erroneously claims that an encyclical is the "highest level of teaching document a pope can issue".  Not true.  It is not solemnly proclaimed dogma.  Mark Rhoads put out a nice summary of the differences; rather than reinvent the wheel I link to it now.  Not even the science that the pope seems to invoke is behind the wacky theory of global warming.  We are not bound in conscience to swallow that kool-aid in order to be a Catholic in good standing.  I for one won't.

Oh, by the way.  The leak of the encyclical was called a "heinous act".  Here's another one, with heinous acting to boot. It probably has the Vatican's "bimbo video" beat for cheesiness.  It's from an envirowhacko group in Brasil called Observatorio Do Clima.  As you watch this, bear in mind that they're serious and obviously think this tripe is the greatest thing since "life's bread".  If they think this waste of bandwidth is going to inspire anything but uproarious laughter, the delusion is worse than I imagined.  Here goes..

Usual Gang Of Suspects To Attend Amazon Sin-Nod

Do any of these names sound familiar?

• Ki-Moon Ban
• Jeffrey Sachs
• Hans Schellnhuber

They should.  Over the past few years, I and others have written about these progressive, pro-population-control individuals who have all been invited to various Vatican-sponsored conferences.  They gave presentations and lent their pernicious influence to the various synodal documents, including Laudato Si and Amoris Laetitia.  Put any one of their names in this blog's search box (top left with the magnifying glass) to get more background information.  They will be attending next month's Amazon Sin-nod, per the Vatican list of attendees.

Edward Pentin has also pointed out the high German representation at this gabfest.  Cardinal Reinhard Marx was personally appointed by the pope to attend.  Other dissident prelates include Cardinal Maradiaga, Cardinal Schonborn and Archbishop Paglia.  Put those names in the search box for some eye-fulls; space and time do not permit me to elaborate on the unfitness of each and every one of them to guide the Church on anything.

The hoax known as "climate change" will be bandied about ad nauseum as though it were settled science.  Even if it were, that subject matter falls outside the competence of clergy for solemn pronouncements. 

HOWEVER, if they insist, here's some thoughtful input for them to consider.

Yet Another Vatican Conference Will Promote Climate-Change Junk Science And Population Control

From the Catholic News Agency, we read that this conference will occur next week, July 21-22.  Ostensibly its purpose is to demonstrate a linkage between "climate change" and slavery.  Well, I daresay other linkages are made even more manifest by this conference.  The title of the conference is one indicator.  "Modern Slavery and Climate Change: the Commitment of the Cities" is the title of the workshop in question that will be held during the conference entitled "Prosperity, People and Planet: Achieving Sustainable Development in Our Cities".  The conference is sponsored by (surprise!) the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Let's focus on the conference title for now.  What two words indicate the underlying agenda with all this?  Sustainable Development!  We've seen that lots of times over the past few months, have we not?  Back in April, this same Pontifical Academy of Sciences hosted another symposium to prepare for the disastrous Laudato Si; the report produced therein specifically called for "reaching a level and sustainable population".  Recall that just after the release of Laudato Si, the Apostolic Nuncio to the UN gave the Vatican's formal approval to "the verbatim inclusion of the sustainable development goals and targets" of the UN.  That means that the Vatican has given approval for the usage of abortion, contraception and sterilization to accomplish those ends.  Oh sure, there might be the statements here and there decrying abortion, but they are far outweighed by the more insidious promulgation of concepts such as "climate change" and "sustainable development".

We also must consider whom the pope is taking into his confidence.  We've seen him include in various deliberations and conferences notorious "population control" advocates such as Jeffrey Sachs, Hans Schnellnhuber and others.  I point out that Schnellnhuber was recently appointed by the pope to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.  Can anyone doubt that he had much to do with the putrid output of these symposiums and conferences?

I wrote a piece two months ago explaining how I see the "smoke of satan"entering the Church through a number of specific avenues; one of them is climate change, but they all seem to dovetail into each other.  We also see how the "climate change" hoax makes it easy for guilty parties to excuse their enabling of the gay agenda.

Almost two years ago I wrote of a pastor within the Archdiocese of Washington who publicly announced that he condoned homosexual conduct while counseling Catholics.  At that time I wondered aloud if he would be allowed to continue in his post, where he posed a danger to souls.  Lo and behold, this week's issue of the Catholic Standard indicates that he still holds his post.  Not only that, but the Standard is holding Father Daly and his parish up as examples.  Why?  Because they've "gone green"!  In Father's words, it's part of "a living faith".  So, never mind about the souls of the poor homosexuals who need the truth of Jesus Christ and His sacramental graces.  As long as the parish and pastor are "green" (and don't you just love his green cap?), who care about souls going to hell?

Remember - Laudato Si and the proceeds from these junk-summits do not stem from dogma.  They fall within the realm of "prudential judgment" at best.  Truth be told, the level of "prudence" isn't that high, as these things do reek of progressivism.  We are not required, as faithful Catholics, to give assent to them.  I'll leave you with two things: the first is an excellent article by John Zmirak.  The second is a link to some very relevant entertainment for a Friday evening.

Communism And Freemasonry Controlling The Vatican

Tonight's Anchor Team focused on Lepanto Institute's expose of some Vatican organizations that are directly and unabashedly promoting communism, witchcraft and baby-slaughter.  That expose was published two days ago and is linked here.  Please note that there is more commentary beneath the video.

Please watch the whole thing for there are mentioned websites with additional information.  In their discussion of communism and freemasonry, Hichborn and Maughan mentioned that Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels were greatly assisted by a British masonic lodge that took them under their wings, so to speak.

Also, please pay special attention to Hichborn's observations regarding so many of the "Catholic social justice" groups.  Many if not most of them are focused solely on temporal concerns without nary a thought towards eternal salvation.  It is the latter that is the Church's primary mission, for one day this earth will fade and their will only be heaven and hell.  A sole focus only on earthly concerns is a surefire way of careening straight towards hell.  That is one key reason why the Vatican's push for the covid cootie-jab is so nefarious, in addition to the fact that usage of these concoctions constitutes cooperation with the sin of baby-murder.

They have much to say about the socialistic bent of the United Nations, certainly as manifested through its presidents throughout the decades.  Recall that two years ago Pope Francis erroneously said that we have a duty to obey the United Nations.  I won't say that the pope has been duped by the communists in the UN.  No, he is in fact a fully-knowledgeable collaborator with them.  His shilling for the Sustainable Development goals and his constant hosting of Jeffrey Sachs and Ban-Ki Moon in preparation for Laudato Si certainly is proof of that.

Yesterday was the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.  This is a good time to commit - or recommit - to praying it daily, as she requested at Fatima.  While prayer is essential, it is not sufficient.  Please take the time to inform yourselves of the ills of our Church and world.  Plan to speak against the evils that you see, even if the sources of those evils wear miters.  Use your rights as US citizens to take a stand for decency; we've seen plenty of parents do precisely that at various school board meetings lately.  Emulate their examples.  The time is short.

The Agony Continues

We resume our trek through the Instrumentum Laboris for the upcoming Sham-azon Sin-Nod.  I am on page 14 of 64 pages.  That's right!  Sixty-four pages of gobblygoop!  What isn't utter fluff is actual heresy.  And this is just the working document of the October gabfest.  Can you just imagine the verbosity that will billow forth in the wake of the sin-nod?

In paragraph 17 we see the phrase "defense of life".  For close to 30 years I have been involved in pro-life efforts and currently write columns for a Maryland-based pro-life Catholic organization called Defend Life.  So I perked up when I saw that phrase, thinking that they might actually be concerned with the intrinsic evils of contraception, abortion, euthanasia.  Alas, no such fidelity to Church teaching was to be found.  Instead, we read of angst against "imbalance in the seasons" and "imbalance in the climate".  NEWS FLASH!  God alone controls the weather!  Who do these sin-nod honchos think they are to dictate what the weather should be?  We even hear some wretched nonsense about the "multinationals cutting the earth and the earth is bleeding".  The earth does not have blood.  Would that our Church leaders showed the same solicitude to the bleeding of thousands of babies everyday from abortion.

The next several paragraphs are one big politically correct lament about how the big-bad western civilization has "polluted the rivers", "burned trees", "destroyed species", ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Gosh, if one didn't know better, one might think that they copied a lot from Laudato Si, which itself is probably largely the works of pro-death Jeffrey Sachs and that bunch.

But now comes chapter 3!  We find that the Amazon is in a "period of grace".  So that means that the bishops are going to proclaim Christ and salvation from their sins, and lead them to the One True Church which is God's chosen vehicle of salvation?  Oh, silly!  Don't be so pelagian and triumphalist!  Paragraph 29 says the natives have much to teach us!  So shut up already and eternal destiny of souls be damned (I mean that literally, given the thrust of this tome).  In paragraph 30, we read that "the unique diversity of the Amazon region - biological, religious and cultural - suggests a new Pentecost."  What they are saying is that the various idolatries of the natives take precedence over the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity.  As any Catholic child could have told these IL authors 100 years ago, Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit descended upon Mary and the Apostles, after which they proclaimed Jesus Christ and the Gospel of repentance, conversion and salvation.  Idolatries were sins to be cast aside, not celebrated as this piece of papal plop is now suggesting.

We see more of the same in paragraph 33, where IL claims that God's presence is to be found in the superstitions of the Amazon natives.  Such hideous spiritual poison we have encountered so far.  Mind you, we are only on page 19.  We still have 45 more pages of this sludge through which we must wade.

Moving on, we see that Chapter 4 is entitled "Dialogue".  In paragraph 36, it claims that Jesus had dialogue with the Samaritan woman at the well.  Break out your bibles and read John 4.  Jesus did not dialogue with her as with an equal.  He taught her - plain and simple.

Part 2 is entitled "Integral Ecology: The Cry of the Earth and the Poor".  My!  The earth seems rather talented!  It cries!  It bleeds!  Does it sing and dance and take a bow?  Personification much?  Apparently we need an "integral ecological conversion", according to the IL authors.  In actuality, what is needed is conversion to the One True Faith through the Catholic Church.  An "ecological conversion", by definition, renders ecology into a de facto idol.

We will resume with part 2 another time.  I don't want this to get too long.  This IL is already insufferably long.

The Smoke Of Satan Within The Church

Pope Paul VI is said to have uttered the phrase "the smoke of Satan is within the Church".  I believe he said this in the wake of the Vatican II conference and the wholescale destruction of much of Church tradition done in the so-called "spirit of Vatican II".  These days I believe we are seeing such smoke coming through several key avenues:

• The Vatican embrace of climate-change envirowhackoism as evidenced by last week's conference hosted by the Pontifical Academy for Sciences
• The willingness of prelates to kowtow to the gay-mafia agenda, as evidenced by last October's sin-nod
• Vatican acquiesence towards Islam, as displayed by the pope's allowance of muslim prayers on Vatican property and by other strange behaviors towards islam (as evidenced by Cardinal McCarrick).
• Malevolence towards those upholding authentic tradition, evidenced in the suppression of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and treatment meted out to faithful clergy such as Cardinal Burke and Father Guarnizo
• The involvement of the Vatican in partnerships with organizations that fund abortion, contraception, sterilization to the point of directing these organizations in their malevolent activities.
• The denial of the above-mentioned evils by obstinate pollyannas, who delight in denouncing the messenger rather than addressing the message

As an example of the last bullet-point, I present to you an article by George Weigel.  He seems to take great amusement, if not scorn, at the concerns raised by faithful Catholics regarding ominous signs that point towards Vatican embrace of UN climate-change and population control goals.  What he thought he was accomplishing with his mutation of the Gospel of Luke is beyond me.  He sneeringly points out that no one has read the soon-to-be-released article.  I must wonder if he bothered to read the report that was issued by the Pontifical Academy for Sciences (probably written by Jeffrey Sachs).  This report openly calls for embrace of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and population control.  I suppose the answer to my rhetorical question is "no", for that might force him to remove rose-colored glasses.

Looking at the second point, we are dismayed to learn that in London next Sunday, Cardinal Vincent Nichols will celebrate Mass especially for gays.  Nowhere in this article do we read that these homosexuals are living chastely and not engaging in perversion.  Nowhere do we read that they are receiving real pastoral help to live according to God's laws.  This is kowtowing to political correctness - at the expense of the souls of those gays who need the truth for their salvation.

In yesterday's Vortex, Michael Voris dwells on the loss of England to protestantism.  At 1:25 he asks how England could have fallen so quickly, then answers:  "Cowardice and political machinations of the bishops at the time."  The church was corroded from within by the smoke prevalent at that age.  We must pray that the smoke be removed and shine the light through it.

Trump Trashes Gaia-Worshiping Climate-Change Junk-Science

Yesterday President Trump announced that the US would be extraditing itself from the hamstring boondoggle known as the "Paris Agreement".  As Huffington Post sniffs, this is within a week or two of the pope presenting to President Trump his faux-gospel known as Laudato Si.  He must have read it and understood its basis in progressive crap-science.  Breitbart News posted a list of harms that have been averted due to our rejection of the Paris Agreement.

The HP piece quotes Bishop Sorondo as whining that Trump's action "would be a slap in the face for us".  Truth be told, the whole Pontifical Academy for the Sciences might benefit from some slaps to the kissers.  Of course I speak figuratively for I would never assault clergy in that manner.  To strike the ordained is an act of sacrilege; even if they don't hold their sacerdotal orders in high esteem, I do.  The adulation they have heaped upon notorious baby-killing proponents (Jeffrey Sachs, Paul Ehrlich, Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, etc) betrays their allegiance to progressivism and hatred for western (that is, Christian) culture.  I've been following the encroachment of environmentalism in the Church for a while now.  To an ever increasing number of people it is becoming clear that environmentalism is a Trojan horse for population control (via contraception, sterilization and abortion), one-world government, with that government encroaching so much on the lives of people that it supplants God in their lives.  Here is just one expose of that fact; I urge you also to go to the Vortex link in this article.

The anti-life philosophy behind environmentalism reared its ugly head as recently as last month, when environmentalists tried to maintain the Paris Agreement.  You can see that in the video below, seeing how they reacted to the pro-life message.  I thank God that President Trump thwarted these people for now.

Nature Throws Temper Tantrums

A temper tantrum.  Yes, Pope Francis chalked up the covid-19 outbreak to a "temper tantrum" - his words - that nature is throwing so that we "will take care of her".  How in hades does he make up this crap?  Understand that in this gibberish, he is personifying nature by ascribing to it irascibility.

Let's remember what the Amazon Synod, and in fact most synods and all those meetings with Jeffrey Sachs et al were all about.  They were about establishing the de facto religion of earth-worship.  That was a big impetus in defiling Churches in Rome along with the open worship of the pachamama idols in the  Vatican gardens, with the pope in attendance. I and many others believe that this covid-19 pandemic is nothing less than a Divine chastisement for our many sins against Him - idolatreis, blasphemies, baby-slaughter, the elevation of homosexual perversions, etc.  Let's recall that the pachamama disaster happened in Italy, and the greatest number of casualties are in Italy.

However, instead of repenance, the world and the Church are doubling down on sinful conduct.  At a time when they should be multiplying Masses and allowing for greater access to the Sacraments, our bishops are restricting access to the sacraments and even eliminating them, going so far as to shutter the Churches.  In their claim to be acting out of concern for public safety, they cut off the prime source of God's grace, heaping more disrespect upon God.  I salute those dedicated priests who are having to work around various strictures laid upon them by their errant bishops (drive-through confessions, drive-up exposition of Blessed Sacrament, etc).  At any rate, pachamama isn't the only occasion for idolatry.  We now have "public safety", "compliance with authority" (even when that authority goes outside its own constitutional bounds), etc.  Yes, for too many - even for otherwise faithful Catholics - public safety, good in and of itself, has been made into an idol.

Listen now to the words of Archbishop Lenga of Poland.  Growing up in Poland, this prelate knows a thing or two about living under a tyranny and the perils of subjugating the One True Faith to the dictates of secular powers-that-be.

Pope Francis Strikes Hands With Anti-Life Mayors Promoting Death In Guise of Climate Change Concerns

This past Tuesday the Vatican hosted about 150 mayors of cities throughout the world with the ostensible goal of "combating climate change".  Ten of those were US mayors, most being pro-abortion.  They included Bill De Blasio of New York.  Joining them was CA Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown.  They met in a workshop entitled "Modern Slavery and Climate Change: The Commitment of the Cities".  Hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the meeting was hosted by rabid population-control advocate Jeffrey Sachs.  I've written about both these before in recent months.

As Breitbart points out, Tuesday's seminar was immediately followed by another, in conjunction with the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network on Cities and the Sustainable Development Agenda entitled "Prosperity, People and Planet in the Cities".  Notice how that phrase "sustainable development" keeps popping up like kudzu?  Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we are being bombarded with that phrase deliberately so that we will be accustomed to it and not notice when the death-dealing underpinnings of "sustainable development" are fully implemented in our midst.

The pope addressed the attendees at the first meeting; Zenit has the full English text.  While it is indeed a rambling mess, we can see within it the insinuations of progressive poison.  I'm going to address a few of these points.  Again, there seems to be very little organization of thought here but there are some odd things that must be pointed out.

He ended one paragraph by claiming that "wars are an element of the imbalance of environment".  No.  James 4:1-5 has a bit to say of the origins of wars.  Mother Teresa of Calcutta had words of wisdom on the topic when, at the 1994 prayer breakfast, she uttered, "But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?"  Recall that many, if not most, of the attendees of this workshop are actively facilitating this "destroyer of peace".

Further on down the pope said, "man is creator of lack of culture because he doesn't look after the environment."  The only way that can be accurate is if "environment" = God.  Culture becomes debased when man's disobedience to God becomes ingrained in the culture, as has happened to western civilization over these past few decades.  Hallmarks of this "lack of culture" have been:

• the removal of any mention of God in official public life (ending of prayer in schools, removal of crosses and Ten Commandment plaques from public buildings, etc)
• the legalization and even promotion of contraception and abortion by civil government
• the exaltation of sexual perversion and disdain for true families by the culture at large.

These have been both cause and effect of the degradation of culture.   The size of "carbon footprints" and other such nonsense have little, if anything, to do with the health of real culture.  Most, if not all, the city officials in attendance have fostered these detriments to real culture.  The pope would have done well to address these.  Instead, he made no mention of these and chose to utter politically-correct ramblings.  After the meeting de Blasio was interviewed and the transcript is on Zenit.  De Blasio is quoted as saying, "He is moving people on an extraordinary level. And we have few truly international leaders in any sense. What he is doing is creating an international voice of conscience," and "He is literally saying to us that we need to reset our assumptions and think more deeply and morally about our actions, because our current sense of practicality is digging our graves, and I think his voice is having a very big moral impact."

I'll be impressed with this "very big moral impact" when de Blasio and ilk do a 180-degree turn and stand for the unborn babies and true marriage in their respective localities.  Otherwise it will be made plain that one effect of this whole charade is to let pro-abortion pols be enabled in their "lack of culture" policies by misguided papal affirmation.