The leader of the Catholic Church organized a summit over the weekend to decry fossil fuels, indicating a prioritization of climate change issues, but has remained silent on Ireland’s referendum legalizing abortion.
Vatican visors included oil and gas executives like BP CEO Bob Dudley, Equinor CEO Eldar Saetre and ExxonMobil Chief Executive Darren Woods. Other participants included big names in the investment industry. The conference featured nearly 20 speakers and was organized in part by the University of Notre Dame.
“Civilization requires energy, but energy use must not destroy civilization,” Francis saidduring the climate change summit, which lasted from Friday to Saturday. He went on to say that the poor “suffer most from the ravages of global warming” because of extreme weather and water shortages.
However, as Francis continues his environmentalist push, he has notably remained quiet on an issue of great importance to Catholics: the abortion referendum in Ireland. Last month, the once-Catholic dominant country voted overwhelmingly to legalize abortion, undoing a decades-old ban on the practice and highlighting the church’s waning influence.
“Across Western Europe, the church’s once mighty footprint has faded, in no small measure because of self-inflicted clerical sex abuse scandals and an inability to keep up with and reach contemporary Catholics,” The New York Times wrote on May 27, the day after the historic vote. “And yet, Francis is not sounding the alarm or calling the faithful to the ramparts. He seems resigned to accept that a devout and Catholic Europe has largely slipped into the church’s past … If the landslide vote in Ireland bothered Francis, he didn’t show it on Sunday afternoon.” – READ MORE
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