Catholic church statements on climate change are undermining the moral authority of catholic Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his government's poor record on climate action and support for fossil fuels and expansion of coal.
Tony Abbott's 'coal for prosperity' statement is looking more ridiculous and out of step with every passing moment.
Our Prime Minister was closely asociated with Cardinal Pell, a strong climate denier in the Australian Catholic Church. (See Graham Readfearn: Cardinal Pell’s mine of climate misinformation) Unfortunately Pell's climate ideas are not widely held in the upper echelon of the Catholic church.
With the Paris climate talks approaching in December, 2015, Pope Francis has indicated that a papal encyclical on the environment and climate change is being prepared for issue. This will lay the moral ground and support for progress at the UN climate talks, according to Neil Ormerod, Professor of Theology at Australian Catholic University, writing in The Age in Januray, 2015.
