Pope Benedict: Turning Green

The Pope (Sergey Kozhukhov)

One of Pope Benedict XVI's most famous predecessors, Pope Gregory I of the sixth century, put together a list of Seven Deadly Sins.  Right at the top of that list - second only to Pride - was Envy.  The other five "Deadlies" were Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and Sloth.

However, Pope Benedict XVI isn't turning Green with Envy.  He is instead turning away from the fourth "Deadly" on his own 2008 list of Seven Social Sins.  The fourth Social Sin on this latter list is Polluting the environment.  Pope Benedict's other six Social Sins are as follows:  "Bioethical violations" such as birth control; "Morally dubious" experiments such as stem cell research; Drug abuse; Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor; Excessive wealth; and Creating poverty.

According to a Daily Beast article by Daniel Stone titled The Green Pope,

Benedict has earned this eco-friendly epithet by "boosting efforts to make

Vatican City more environmentally efficient," as well as by using "Roman Catholic doctrine to emphasize humanity's responsibility to care for the planet."  As part of this latter emphasis, Benedict has linked a greener lifestyle with "the human responsibility to protect the world's poorest communities, which are often the first to feel a changing climate's ecological effects, such as floods or droughts…"

The latest of Benedict's efforts is yielding headlines such as this Associated Press one:  Pope goes green with electric car.  Nicole Winfield reports that just this week "The Green Pope" was presented with an ozone-preserving "customized white Renault Kango."   

Resources

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aizloDFbRPRM

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-goes-green-electric-car-165652510.html

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/04/16/the-green-pope.html

Copyright September 10, 2012 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved