Home / Front Page

A key element of the Holy Father's eco-encyclical Laudato Si' is dialogue, and at today's much-anticipated address by Pope Francis to energy executives gathered in Rome, the pontiff's words were both direct and pastoral, as well as urgent and complementary.

Acknowledging eco-efforts made to date by the energy sector, the pontiff added that "we are challenged to find ways of ensuring the immense supply of energy required to meet the needs of all, while at the same time developing means of using natural resources that avoid creating environmental imbalances resulting in deterioration and pollution gravely harmful to our human family, both now and in the future."

Citing his predecessor's eco-statements as well as his own, the wide-ranging address touched on the Paris climate accord, agriculture, economic theory, and, of course, the impact of a warming world on the poor.

What the response will be from those gathered will tell us how helpful the dialogue offered by Pope Francis is working. The fossil fuel industry is, after all, experiencing growing divestment from that industry, most recently by Catholic organizations. While some voices have expressed caution in dealing with an industry that is "duplicitous," others...

This Monday at a breakfast gathering of New England clean-water industry representatives, my US Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, chatted with me about the upcoming Vatican meeting that will include members of the fossil-fuel industry. When he mentioned that he’d be writing to caution the Holy Father, I asked for a copy of his letter, which his staff graciously shared with me today and which I’ve provided below.

In my capacity as an engineer at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, the senator and I have had excellent conversations about climate change and adapting water-pollution control infrastructure to a warming world. He’s also been involved in interfaith eco-efforts—and has been complimentary about my writings and the great efforts of Pope Francis.

There are, of course, issues of profound disagreement between the Democratic senator and the Catholic Church—most especially on abortion, a rampant reality that ends human lives. On issues of ecology, public works, and climate change (among others), the senator is spot on. It’s unfortunate that the Church’s integrated approach to these issues (human life and ecology, etc.) is not shared by many in the political realm—on the left and right. And so we must hope and pray and continue to...