CLIMATE change sceptics at a Vatican conference on the issue late last month “shot themselves in the foot” with the positions they took and the statements they made, an Australian Columban priest said.
Columban Centre for Peace Ecology and Justice member Fr Charles Rue attended the seminar, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which gathered about 80 experts representing the scientific, political, economic and spiritual sides of the climate change debate at the Vatican on April 26-27 to discuss “Climate Change and Development”.
He said Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace head Cardinal Renato Martino gave the climate change sceptics a disproportionate amount of speaking time in a “brilliant strategy” which revealed the absurdity of their position.
He said mathematician Professor Antonino Zichichi from the World Federation of Scientists, based in Switzerland, led the charge for the sceptics.
“There were recurring themes from the climate sceptics which included identifying the cause of climate change as natural cycles and arguing for money to go to developing nations rather than be spent on carbon reduction.
Fr Rue said a presentation by French Environment Minister Laurent Stefanini and United Kingdom MP David Millibrand suggested a way forward for the Church to make a positive response to the problem.
“They both said that climate change is not only a scientific and political issue but a moral and ethical one,” Fr Rue said.
