Vatican official suggests worldwide environmental regulatory agency
December 15, 2011
The world should have a “supranational” regulatory agency with power to enforce environmental rules, suggests the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
Addressing an audience in Rome after his return from a climate-change conference in Durban, South Africa, Bishop Mario Toso applauded the progress that was made toward an international agreement to curb the emission of greenhouse gases. But he noted that some powerful nations, including the US, have resisted a binding accord. Bishop Toso observed that “the goal of a commitment by all states is still far away and so it is important to raise the awareness of civil society on the subject.”
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Posted by: -
Dec. 21, 2011 3:17 AM ET USA
Time to toss Toso.
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Posted by: Don Vicente -
Dec. 16, 2011 12:09 AM ET USA
Just be glad that Bishop Toso isn't Bishop of some poor Italian village. He can keep on re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic and pretend that the faithful actually care.
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Posted by: aclune9083 -
Dec. 15, 2011 10:42 PM ET USA
Bishop Toso should stick to his areas of expertise. He cannot understand the issues underlying the environmental activism at Durban if he takes such a position. This is not about saving the planet; this is about a radical anti-developed nation, anti-US political agenda that presupposes (incorrectly) that human intervention can significantly affect the natural cycle of warming and cooling without negative economic impacts. This is not social justice, it is leftist social re-engineering.
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Posted by: normnuke -
Dec. 15, 2011 10:27 PM ET USA
There is a temptation on reading this to slap the forehead and yell something about 'those Justice and Peace lulu's again!' Actually, these folks serve a useful purpose akin to, but opposite to the old arguments from 'authority' in philosophy class. On the basis of the evidence, it is now perfectly reasonable to flip the page, turn off the hearing aid, whatever, whenever the name of Bp. Toso comes up.And yes, Journalist, they do claim infallibility for themselves.
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Posted by: gop -
Dec. 15, 2011 8:23 PM ET USA
This is the second time that this Council has made this sort of incredible remark. Remember the document on reforming the international financial system?
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Posted by: JP810 -
Dec. 15, 2011 7:42 PM ET USA
Oh boy ... not again from the "Peace & Justice" council! Well, they screwed up last time concerning the economy what makes them think anybody will listen to them on this highly controversial topic that has no real consensus! It seems "doom and gloom" is their business of the day! Sigh ...
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Posted by: bsandburg3714 -
Dec. 15, 2011 7:25 PM ET USA
Bishop Toso is out of his element, utterly outside of his competence, and totally out of order making such a statement as an official of the Catholic Church. The propaganda that greenhouse gas emissions is the cause of "climate change" is supporting the greatest hoax in history. Its whole purpose is to rob from wealthy nations to line the pockets of despots. A binding accord of the kind Bp Toso and others propose would lead not to the growth of social justice but to its peril.
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Posted by: Chestertonian -
Dec. 15, 2011 7:05 PM ET USA
Agree with Dover. One need only look at the UN to see what a disaster supranational orgs can be--imagine the corrupt UN with enforcement powers! You can bet it would not act as the Church does, proposing rather than imposing.
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Posted by: TheJournalist64 -
Dec. 15, 2011 7:03 PM ET USA
Thank God these people aren't claimed to be infallible. What happened to the principle of subsidiarity?
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Posted by: dover beachcomber -
Dec. 15, 2011 6:26 PM ET USA
Given the misery which humanity has suffered at the hands of ever-more-powerful governments in the last 100 years, no bishop of the Catholic Church has any business whatsoever championing the creation of an even more colossal "supranational" body. The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace ought to be disbanded, and Msgr. Toso should go somewhere and be quiet for a while.
