About the April 28, 2015 Vatican Workshop on Global Warming
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Roman Catholic Church held a workshop on global warming on April 28, 2015 at the Vatican. This website provides articles and links about global warming and the workshop, so you can tell Pope Francis: Global warming is not a crisis!
Many people of faith who are familiar with the science and economics of climate change are worried this event will become a platform for alarmism over a controversial scientific issue. Scientists are unsure how large the human impact on climate is and whether there is anything mankind can do to affect climate. There is no scientific “consensus” on whether there is any need to reduce mankind’s use of fossil fuels. But alarmists claim the “science is settled” and denounce anyone who disagrees as “deniers.” They call for drastic reductions in fossil fuel consumption, or even no consumption at all.
The Vatican workshop is already being presented by the liberal media as an endorsement by the Catholic Church of policies that are profoundly anti-poor and anti-life. Global warming alarmists invariably support population control to reduce human consumption of energy and natural resources. They want to make energy more expensive to discourage its use, even though this punishes the poor, women, and children who benefit most from affordable energy.
What We All Want: Good Stewardship of the Environment
Most people agree that safeguarding creation — and being a good steward of the environment — is a high moral obligation. If human activity posed a genuine threat to the world’s climate, then some action would be appropriate. But global warming alarmists wave off any evidence that the threat is small or even nonexistent, and they call for policies that would shut down virtually all economic activity around the world. These unnecessary policies would cause the suffering, and even death, of billions of people. All people of faith should rise up in opposition to such policies.
Certain persons who spoke at the workshop, including UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon and Jeffrey Sachs, director of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, are outspoken advocates of the man-made global warming hypothesis. They and other climate alarmists have misrepresented the facts, concocted false data, perpetuated hysteria, and tried to shut down a reasonable, scientific debate on the issue of climate change. This conduct violates the Eighth Commandment: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
What You Can Do: Act and Be Heard!
Contact Pope Francis by mail, at
His Holiness, Pope Francis PP. 00120 Via del Pellegrino Citta del Vaticano
Or e-mail him in care of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at cdf@cfaith.va, and copy Jim Lakely at The Heartland Institute (jlakely@heartland.org) and he will post your message on this site.
Become more informed about the issue. Don’t just “believe” in global warming, truly understand it. A great way to learn the real science of climate change is to read the summaries for policymakers of the Climate Change Reconsidered series:
Talk to your minister, priest, or spiritual leader. Tell him or her you’ve studied the global warming issue and believe Pope Francis is being misled about the science and economics of the issue. Refer him or her to this website.
Talk to your friends, neighbors, and fellow worshipers.
Write about the Pope’s misinformed statements about the climate on your blog. Engage in discussion on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. Write a letter to the editor to your local newspaper or to your religious institution’s newsletter. Use every possible outlet to warn Pope Francis that he is being misled on the science and economics of global warming, and that global warming is not a crisis!
More Climate Resources from The Heartland Institute
The Heartland Institute has an extensive collection of research and commentary on climate change available online on several websites:
Climate Change Reconsidered Climate Change Reconsidered is the title of a series of scientific reports produced by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) and published by The Heartland Institute. NIPCC is an international panel of nongovernment scientists and scholars who have come together to present a comprehensive, authoritative, and realistic assessment of the science and economics of global warming. Because it is not a government agency, and because its members are not predisposed to believe climate change is caused by human greenhouse gas emissions, NIPCC is able to offer an independent “second opinion” of the evidence reviewed – or not reviewed – by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the issue of global warming.
Heatland's Archive of Climate Conferences The Heartland Institute has organized and hosted nine International Conferences on Climate Change since 2008, events that attracted extensive international attention to the debate taking place in the scientific community over the causes, extent, and consequences of climate change. Videos from all the speakers can be viewed on this site.
PolicyBot PolicyBot is a free online database and search engine that provides fast and easy access to the best research and commentary from the nation’s free-market think tanks and advocacy groups. It contains full texts, brief summaries, and source citations for more than 30,000 reports, articles, policy briefs, podcasts, and videos. Search the database for “climate change” or more narrow topics in the global warming debate and discover hundreds of articles.
Heartland in Paris for COP-21 One of the most important battles in the history of the global warming debate was fought November 30 - December 12, 2015 at a United Nations climate conference in Paris known as COP-21, or the twenty-first "Conference of the Parties." The Heartland Institute worked with other leading think tanks and advocacy groups — such as the Cooler Heads Coalition, Heritage Foundation, CFACT, Competitive Enterprise Institute, NIPCC and allied groups in Europe to oppose the agreement. Our voice was heard, and it ensured that energy consumers and taxpyers were represented on the ground in Paris — and that sound science and economics was part of the global discussion.
Join The Heartland Institute
The Heartland Institute is “the world’s most prominent think tank promoting skepticism about man-made climate change” [The Economist, May 26, 2012]. Heartland is a 32-year-old national think tank based in Chicago. We address a wide range of topics (not just global warming) from a free-market perspective. Our work is supported by more than 5,000 donors. Interested in becoming a contributor? Visit the homepage of our Website or go to our donor page.