Two disparate groups of people who are convinced that man-made climate change is a scientific fact have a new champion: the pope!
The first group has a genuine respect for the pope. When he indicates he is speaking infallibly on a matter of faith or morals, they take what he teaches to be religious truth.
Where he does not indicate that he is speaking infallibly, as is the case when he is speaking of man-made climate change, they generally regard his teaching as, at least, highly persuasive.
For a second group, the pope will remain their hero only as long as his pronouncements can be used to demonize the president and other “climate-change deniers.”
Saul Alinsky taught, “Marginalize and demonize your opponent, so that others will disregard his opinions.” The marginalizing process proceeds like this:
The president is deaf to the pope’s teachings on climate change. He cannot be persuaded and is therefore invincibly ignorant. He’s self-centered. He’s an evil billionaire. He has spent his entire life in pursuit of worldly success. By way of contrast, the pope has spent his life caring for the poor. The pope is good. The president is evil.
For the second group, as long as the pope’s religious teachings on climate change coincide with their beliefs, they will treat his climate-change pronouncements as infallible.
They use the papal pronouncements to demonstrate the moral bankruptcy of the president and anyone else who dares to doubt, or deny that climate change is man-made.
Their syllogism is straightforward. The pope and his position on man-made climate change is good. The opposite of good is evil. Therefore, President Donald Trump, who holds the opposite view, is necessarily evil. But even if the president is wrong, does it necessarily follow that he is evil?
When the pope speaks on man-made climate change is he speaking infallibly? Obviously, no.
Canon 749 spells out when the pope speaks infallibly: “By virtue of his office, the Supreme Pontiff possesses infallibility in teaching when as the supreme pastor and teacher of all the Christian faithful ... he proclaims by definitive act that a doctrine of faith or morals is to be held.”
So, assume, for argument’s sake, that when the pope speaks of man-made climate change he indeed is speaking on a matter of faith or morals. Does that mean that he is speaking infallibly?
No. In fact, almost everything the pope says or writes touches upon faith or morals. But that does not mean he is speaking infallibly.
Before a pope speaks infallibly, he must indicate that he intends to do so, by proclaiming unequivocally that he is speaking infallibly and that the doctrine of faith or morals which he is teaching must be held to be true.
What is disingenuous about all this is that many in the second group who treat the pope’s pronouncements on climate change as if they were infallible, utterly reject other papal teachings they find objectionable.
How many of those who approve the pope’s teachings on global warming, utterly reject the pope’s views and his church’s official position on abortion?
The pope believes his church is the”one true church.” To suggest the pope speaks infallibly on climate change while denying that the pope speaks infallibly when he says the Catholic Church is the “one true church,” seems somewhat inconsistent.
Doesn’t that touch on faith? Morals? If the pope is infallible on any issue, shouldn’t his expertise be greatest here? The selective adulation suggests that many of those who are lauding the pope for his position on climate change are covering themselves with the papal robes to demonstrate the moral superiority of their position and the moral bankruptcy and depravity of any one who disagrees.
So is the pope your moral beacon? Or is he merely your tool of choice when you need a cudgel to silence those with whom you politically disagree?
Today the pope teaches that man is causing climate change.
Not very long ago, the church was certain the earth was the center of the universe. So, was Galileo evil?
Posted: QCOline.com July 19, 2018
Copyright 2018, John Donald O'Shea
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