Vatican City--Pope Francis will this week warn that global warning threatens the future of the planet and say there is both an urgent need and moral imperative to reduce fossil fuel consumption, Vatican sources said Tuesday.
A landmark Church statement on the environment, due to be officially released on Thursday, places the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics firmly in the camp of those who say climate change is mainly man-made at a critical time in the global debate over what, if anything, can be done to slow or reverse it.
The papal intervention, seen as a potential game-changer by Green groups, comes six months before international leaders gather in Paris to try and seal a global deal on steps to reduce carbon emissions.
Francis will outline his views in the form of an encyclical, a statement of fundamental principles designed to guide Catholic teaching on a subject that is issued as a letter from the pope to bishops around the world.
But he will also make it clear that his appeal is addressed to everyone on the planet and that he sees a clear link between defending the environment and delivering social justice.
The encyclical, entitled "Laudato Si" (Be Praised), will reference the views of climate change sceptics who are particularly influential in the United States by acknowledging that natural cases such as volcanic activity have contributed to the phenomenon of rising average temperatures.
But it will leave no doubt that the Pope believes that the causes are mainly human, and that creates a compelling practical case and a moral imperative for action to phase out fossil fuels and develop alternative energy sources.
AFP
