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Church in the World

?Eco-sceptics? mar Vatican?s foray into climate-change debate

Participants at the Vatican's first seminar on climate change have expressed grave concerns that the Church's credibility was damaged by giving a vocal contingent of  "eco-sceptics" a prominent platform at the gathering.

The event, organised by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and held on 26-27 April, was organised to gather information about climate change and consider pastoral responses. The venture was praised by many participants, who said that they were encouraged that the Holy See had taken up this "important issue", but feared that it was marred by the sceptics' aggressive approach.

"Their presence at the conference was too massive," said a professor who attended the meeting. The academic, who asked not to be named, feared that by inviting the climate change "sceptics" the Vatican risked its credibility in the eyes of serious scientists and hindered the Church's voice on environmental issues. Another participant, Fr Francisco O'Conaire, who is soon be head of the Commission for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation for all religious orders in Rome, said: "The disproportionate amount of time given over to climate sceptics at the conference, both in presentation time and participant numbers, gives the impression that the Church is still on the fence about the science of climate change as presented in the most recent IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] reports. This is not the time for such an important body as the Pontifical Commission of Justice and Peace to be giving mixed signals."

Antonio Zichichi of the World Federation of Scientists was a "leader of much of the scepticism", according to Columban Father Charles Rue of Australia, who attended the closed-door sessions. He said that Professor Zichichi "attacked the credibility" of the IPCC - the leading international group of scientists studying climate change - by saying that it "lacked scientific rigour".

Other participants said that several people apparently linked to the Legionaries of Christ and their university in Rome supported Professor Zichichi's view. The sceptics said that there was no proof that human-produced carbon dioxide caused global warming and charged that funding for "fantastic schemes" to reduce carbon dioxide levels meant less money would be spent on poor countries. Professor Craig Idso of the Centre for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change in Arizona said that increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere might even be a good thing because it would increase plant growth.

"Their often-repeated litany of objections [to IPCC findings] revealed the absurdity of their position," said Fr Rue of the climate change sceptics. Jesuit Fr Jacques Haers of the Catholic University of Louvain said he was disturbed that "IPCC scientists had been publicly rubbished at a church conference". However, he said it did not appear that the Vatican shared the sceptics' views.

Fr Haers noted that several participants had suggested that Pope Benedict XVI issue an encyclical on safeguarding the environment.

In a message to the seminar, the Pope said that climate change had to be confronted not only by research but also by adopting lifestyles that were marked by "respect for creation".

In a letter to participants at another Vatican conference on charity and justice the Pope said that "the environment and sustainable development" is one of the main

challenges facing the world today. Writing to a 28 April-1 May meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Pope identified "values of the spirit" and respect for the inviolable dignity of the human person as challenges that can be met only through a love for neighbour.

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