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Washington D.C., Jun 1, 2017 / 03:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic leaders around the world expressed disappointment as President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. was pulling out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

“The decision now, to pull out, this for us is something we hoped would not have happened,” Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, told reporters on Wednesday.

“It’s a global public good that needs to be taken care of,” he continued, speaking at a media briefing before he addressed an audience Wednesday evening at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. on “Vatican Perspectives on Care for Creation, Economic Injustice, the Refugee Crisis, and Peace.”

Also in advance of President Trump’s announcement on Thursday afternoon, a U.S. bishop pressed the government to honor its commitment to the Paris climate agreement.

The Paris Agreement was an international climate accord reached in 2015 after representatives of over 150 countries met for COP 21, or the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Countries pledged on various levels to help reduce global carbon emissions and aim to keep global temperatures from rising more than two degrees Celsius, as compared to average temperatures from the pre-industrial age, by the end of the 21st century.

Pope Francis had written his ecology encyclical Laudato Si in advance of the climate agreement, noted Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, chair of the U.S. bishops’ International Justice and Peace Committee.

It “was timed in order to urge the nations of the world to work together in Paris for an agreement that protects our people and our planet,” he said. “Our Conference of Bishops has vigorously promoted the teaching of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, on care for our common home.”

When the agreement was reached in 2015, Pope Francis hailed it as “historic” and said that it would require “a concerted and generous commitment” from members of the international community. Over 190 countries have signed on to the agreement.

On Thursday afternoon in the White House Rose Garden, President Trump announced that the U.S. was pulling out of the agreement, citing its detrimental effects on U.S. energy and American businesses.

“In order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord,” he stated, adding that the U.S. would “begin negotiations to re-enter either the Paris accord” or conduct an “entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its people, its taxpayers.”

The 2015 agreement was “simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries,” he stated, criticizing its “draconian financial and economic burdens” including the Green Climate Fund and the “nationally determined contribution” of the U.S.

Nevertheless, Catholic leaders insisted that as a world leader, the U.S. must lead by example in taking measures to curb its pollution and carbon emissions. On Thursday, Bishop Cantu called Trump’s decision “deeply troubling.”

“The Scriptures affirm the value of caring for creation and caring for each other in solidarity. The Paris agreement is an international accord that promotes these values,” he said.

“The impacts of climate change are already being experienced in sea level rise, glacial melts, intensified storms, and more frequent droughts. I can only hope that the President will propose concrete ways to address global climate change and promote environmental stewardship.”  

Catholic Relief Services, a global Catholic aid agency, said that the decision of a world power to renege on promises to cut carbon emissions and pollution could result in higher temperatures and ultimately hurt the world’s poor who are the most vulnerable to climate change.

“As an international humanitarian organization, we are confronted with the realities of climate change every day and see the devastating impact on the lives of the people we serve,” Bill O’Keefe, vice president for advocacy and government relations for CRS, stated on Thursday.  

For instance, CRS noted, “in Bangladesh, rising sea levels are encroaching on water tables and swallowing coastal homes. In Central America, coffee farmers are losing their crops due to more frequent drought and because warmer temperatures help pests thrive.”

Cardinal Turkson said on Wednesday that he respected Trump’s decision but hopes for future dialogue and a change of policy.

“We will still respect the sovereign decision of any sovereign state,” he said. “We just hope in this regard that even this decision will not be the last.”

In February, Bishop Cantu had joined Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, chair of the U.S. bishops’ domestic justice and human development committee, and the president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services Sean Callahan in writing a letter to new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, exhorting him to honor the U.S. commitment to the Paris agreement.

“In 2015, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops affirmed that funding for climate change related adaptation and mitigation programs as part of the Paris agreement – especially through the GCF – is urgently needed if we are to meet our common and differentiated responsibilities for the effects of climate change,” they stated. The U.S. must also effort to reduce its own carbon emissions, they added.

“The Paris agreement is a key step towards both these goals,” they said.

In lecture at Boston College in the fall of 2015, Cardinal Turkson explained that, according to the encyclical Laudato Si, developed nations should shoulder a greater burden in fighting climate change than poorer, developing countries.

Pope Francis, he said, “insists that the global north has been a disproportionate consumer of creation’s goods and contributor to ecological harm; therefore it must repay its ‘ecological debt’ to the global south.”

 

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Vatican City, Jun 1, 2017 / 04:04 pm (CNA).- With a visit to the tombs of Father Lorenzo Milani and Father Primo Mazzolari this June, Pope Francis will pay homage to two historic Italians who aimed to change their society for the better.

Both Fr. Milani and Fr. Mazzolari combined their social advocacy with a profound devotion and obedience to the Church.

Both priests have been wrongly portrayed as “anti-clerical” priests. Their writings have often been misquoted in order to make them appear to dissent from the Church. However, they always obeyed any restriction the Church placed upon them, and they never preached outside of the Catholic Church.

Fr. Mazzolari believed that a parish priest was called to be a reference point for the community, and also called to work for the re-evangelization of Christianity. He clearly describes this approach in his book “La Bella Avventura,” or “The Beautiful Journey.”

Fr. Milani had a similar approach, which he applied by teaching poor children about the social doctrine of the Church. At a time of increasing communist influence in the region, he declared that “only the Gospel” would be his guide.

Pope Francis’ June 20 visit will start in the small municipality of Bozzolo in Lombardy, where Fr. Mazzolari is buried.

There, he will deliver a short commemorative speech. Then, he will go to the even smaller municipality of Barbiana in South Tyrol, where Fr. Milani lived. He will meet with some former students of the priest’s “people’s school.”

Father Primo Mazzolari was born in 1890 in a village close to Cremona, in Northern Italy. He entered the seminary in 1902, at the age of 11. Soon after being ordained a priest a decade later in 1912, he found himself discerning how to react to the First World War. He was originally in favor of Italy’s entry into the war. He worked as a military chaplain, but the war experience changed his mind. He became a strong pacifist.

He distinguished himself as an anti-fascist under Italy’s fascist regime. After Italy signed an armistice with Allied forces in 1943, he became an active member of the Italian Resistance against the Nazi occupation.

With the end of the Second World War, he developed a strong social commitment. He founded and edited the bi-monthly magazine “Adesso,” whose name means “Now.”

The magazine was shut down in 1951 under order of the Congregation of the Holy Office, which later became the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. That same year, the Holy Office barred the priest from preaching outside of his diocese.

At the time, pre-Vatican II, many of the social advocacy topics covered by “Adesso”  were seen as controversial. In addition, the regent of the Pontifical Household wrote a book describing the publication as “combative.”

Within a year, “Adesso” was reopened, but Fr. Mazzolari was then ordered not to write about social issues. As was his response to every request from Church authorities, he obeyed.

The Mazzolari Foundation is dedicated to the priest’s legacy. Fr. Bruno Bignami, the foundation’s current president, met with Pope Francis at the end of April.

Fr. Bignami gave the Pope one of Fr. Mazzolari’s books and an issue of the foundation’s magazine, which included an article that emphasized the links between Fr. Mazzolari and Fr. Milani.

One of Fr. Mazzolari’s books, “You Shall Not Kill,” underscored a “preferential option for non-violence” which should be expressed in “a strong movement of Christian resistance against war,” Fr. Bignami said. These issues are echoed in Pope Francis’ latest message for the World Day of Peace.

Late in his life, Fr. Mazzolari met Pope St. John XXIII, who called him “the trumpet of the Holy Spirit.” Bl. Paul VI was known to voice appreciation for the priest after his death.

Historians recognize that Fr. Mazzolari had an impulsive personality, and was so bold that his words were hardly welcomed at first. He nevertheless humbly accepted the restrictions issued against him by the Holy Office from 1934 to 1960, though he always noted that he was never sanctioned for doctrinal issues. He died in 1959.

The cause for his beatification was started in 2013, and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints took up his case in 2015.

Equally faithful and impulsive was Fr. Milani.

Pope Francis lauded the priest in an April 23 video message for a presentation of Fr. Milani’s complete works.

Fr. Milani came from a wealthy family of staunch secularists, and converted to Catholicism in his youth. Ordained a priest in 1947, he had his first experience of parish life in the Church of San Donato near Florence. Then he was appointed parish priest of Barbiana, a small village in the Tuscany mountains, in December 1954. It was there that he began his commitment to the education of the poor.

A few days after his arrival, he gathered the youth in a “people’s school” originally created outside the official Italian educational system. In 1956, he organized a high school that offered training in industrial trades.

In 1958, he published the book “Pastoral Experiences,” in which he offered an analysis of the Church of the time. He offered his own explanation of the increasing divide between the Church and the Italian people.

The book bore the imprimatur of Cardinal Elia Dalla Costa, then-Archbishop of Florence, authorizing its publication. Its foreword was written by Bishop Giuseppe d’Avack of Camerino. Nevertheless, the Holy Office ordered the book removed from circulation, determining that although it did not contain doctrinal errors, reading it was “deemed not opportune.”

The prohibition was formally removed  in 2014 by Pope Francis – at the request of Cardinal Giuseppe Betori of Florence, Fr. Milani’s old diocese – allowing “Pastoral Experience” to be reprinted without express ecclesiastical authorization.

Fr. Milani carried on with his educational project for the poor. In 1965, he again faced controversy when he wrote an open letter to Tuscany’s military chaplains.

The priest strongly criticized the chaplains’ statement that claimed that Christian conscientious objection was “strange to the Christian commandment of love and an expression of cowardice.”

The priest’s strong defense of Christian objection to war and military service was declared “a crime against the state” by political authorities, and Fr. Milani was tried for defending a crime. He was declared not guilty at his first trial but found guilty by the appeals court. He died of leukemia in 1967, before he faced sentencing.

Fr. Milani also co-authored a book with his boys and girls in Barbiana. The book, titled “Letter to A Professor,” expressed the need for more efforts to provide poor children with equal educational opportunities. The book has been translated to more than 40 languages.

As Pope Francis noted, Fr. Milani wrote: “I will never revolt against the Church, because I need for my sins to be forgiven several times a week, and I do not know where to seek this forgiveness if I left the Church.”

 

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Napa, Calif., Jun 1, 2017 / 04:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- What’s a good way to reach a lot of young people all at once?

Plant yourself at an entrance of a popular music festival with a sign, some free stuff, and a smile.

That’s what Catholic priest Fr. David Jenuwine did last weekend, at BottleRock Napa, a three-day music festival with roughly 30,000 in attendance.

His sign read simply: Catholic priest. Blessings, Prayers, Confessions, Answers.

Fr. Jenuwine, parochial vicar at St. Apollinaris Parish in Napa, California, told CNA that he had been trying to brainstorm creative ways to reach out to young adults when he heard about the music festival. He said he was inspired after hearing a talk on evangelization a few weeks ago by EWTN personality Fr. Mitch Pacwa.

“My youth minister said well, BottleRock is this weekend, but it’s chaos,” he said.

“And I went, alright, let’s do it!”  

Fr. Jenuwine placed himself on one side of the festival, while his St. Paul Street Evangelization team camped out on the other side. They prayed for 20 minutes before the Blessed Sacrament before hitting the streets, “begging for the graces we need and to get ourselves in the zone,” Father said.

Besides prayers and answers, they offered rosaries, prayer cards and miraculous medals. They went fast.

“That first night we gave away every rosary, every prayer card, every miraculous medal we had, but sure enough we found more, so we went out again Sunday,” Fr. Jenuwine said.

They stayed at the festival for about five hours on Saturday, and another couple hours on Sunday.

The responses varied widely, the priest said.

“I pretty much just made eye contact with people and said ‘Hi, how’re you doing?’” Father recalled. “And some people were like, ‘Is he really a priest?’”

Others greeted him warmly: “Hi Father! Nice to see you out here.”

Some were more skeptical. When one of the St. Paul team handed out a rosary, the recipient asked, “Does it come with a lecture?”

“There was one guy who said, ‘What are you bringing this here for?’” Father recalled.

“And I said, ‘We’re here to tell you God loves you.’ And he said, ‘I already know that.’ So I said, ‘Well good! You’re one of the few’.”

Others tried to avoid him by pulling out their phones and pretending to be busy.

“But even in that, if they were purposely ignoring us then we made an impression, because they knew we were out there,” he said.  

There were also some people who got blessings on Saturday that came back for another on Sunday.

“There were some people getting out of their Uber and they said, ‘Hey he’s still here! Father, can we get a blessing?’”

“I even heard a couple confessions,” he said, though the confessees were people he already knew.

And although he advertised “answers” on his sign, there was one thing people asked that Father didn’t know: “Where is the parking lot?”

“I said I promised I’d try, but I do not know where the parking is,” Father said, laughing.

His youth minister, Dominic Figueroa, snapped a photo of Father hanging out under his street lamp with his sign, and Father posted it on Facebook. Yesterday, friends started to realize that the post was trending on Reddit. It now has more than 640 votes and nearly 100 comments.

It’s an evangelization experience that he and his St. Paul team are looking to do again. They already have an event scoped out this weekend.

“I think we made a little splash,” Father said. “In a sense, this kind of started something for us.”

The biggest takeaway, he said, was “how easy it was.”

“I think too often we get tied up in planning, planning, planning. But when the Spirit moves, go with Him! No excuses.”

 

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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- President Donald Trump's June 1 decision "not to honor the U.S. commitment" to the Paris climate agreement "is deeply troubling," said the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace.

"The Scriptures affirm the value of caring for creation and caring for each other in solidarity. The Paris agreement is an international accord that promotes these values," Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico, said in a statement released shortly after the president made his announcement in the White House Rose Garden.

"President Trump's decision will harm the people of the United States and the world, especially the poorest, most vulnerable communities," the bishop said after Trump announced the U.S. will withdraw immediately from the Paris accord.

"The impacts of climate change are already being experienced in sea level rise, glacial melts, intensified storms, and more frequent droughts," Bishop Cantu said. "I can only hope that the president will propose concrete ways to address global climate change and promote environmental stewardship."

Trump said the climate accord "is less about the climate and more about other countries obtaining a financial advantage over the United States."

He said he wants to create a "level playing field" and establish the "highest standard of living, highest standard of environmental protection." The United States now joins Syria and Nicaragua in not being part of the accord.

Bishop Cantu said that although the Paris agreement is not the only possible mechanism for addressing global carbon mitigation, the lack of a current viable alternative is a serious concern.

He said the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Pope Francis "and the entire Catholic Church have consistently upheld the Paris agreement as an important international mechanism to promote environmental stewardship and encourage climate change mitigation."

Before Trump made his announcement, Bishop Cantu issued a statement saying the United States had an obligation to honor the Paris agreement to protect "our people and our planet" and "mitigate the worst impacts of climate change." He urged Trump to honor the accord.

The USCCB released the earlier statement along with copies of letters sent weeks earlier to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Treasure Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. The letters were signed by Bishop Cantu; Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; and Sean L. Callahan, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' overseas relief and development agency.

"We write about our shared obligation to care for the environment. The Judeo-Christian tradition has always understood 'the environment' to be a gift from God," said the letters urging the Trump administration officials in their respective capacities to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the Paris accord.

"Pope Francis called on the world's leaders to come together to protect the gift of our common home. ... We have one common home, and we must protect it," they said.

In both statements Bishop Cantu noted that the U.S. bishops have for years "voiced support for prudent action and dialogue on climate change," as far back as their 2001 statement on global climate change and again in 2015 in a letter to Congress. They have, he said, "reiterated their support on several occasions."

"Pope Francis and the Holy See have also consistently voiced support for the Paris agreement," Bishop Cantu said. In his earlier June 1 statement, Bishop Cantu said the pope's 2015 encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home" was timed "to urge the nations of the world to work together in Paris for an agreement that protects our people and our planet."

The Paris accord has been ratified by 134 of the 197 countries that approved it in December 2015 under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. President Barack Obama ratified on its own, bypassing the U.S. Senate. The agreement went into force in October after enough countries ratified it.

A day before Trump announced the immediate withdrawal of the U.S. from the climate accord, Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Integral Development of People, told reporters in Washington that "the decision to possibly pull out for us is something we hoped would not have happened."

"Certain issues should be taken out of the political discussion and not be politicized. ... The truth is, climate is a global public good and not limited to any country, not limited to any nation," the cardinal said.

"The Vatican would always respect the decision of a sovereign state," added Cardinal Turkson, who was in Washington for a conference at Georgetown University. "We will continue to still talk about climate change and all of that, and hope that some change can occur midstream."

Also commenting ahead of Trump's decision was Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, who said if the president decided to withdraw the United States, "it will be a disaster for everyone."

The bishop and the academies are at the forefront of promoting scientific studies on climate change and implementation of the recommendations in Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato Si'" on care for the environment. The pope gave Trump a copy of the document when they met May 24 at the Vatican.

In an interview June 1 with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Bishop Sanchez said he did not think Trump and Pope Francis discussed climate change in any depth when they met, however climate change was a significant part of the discussions the president and top staff members had with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

"In that sense, if he really does what the leaks suggest, for us it will be a huge slap in the face," the bishop said.

Obama deserves some of the blame, the bishop said, because "he took decisions on climate only through presidential orders, leaving open the possibility that his successor would change everything. That's the problem. Today, in just one day, Trump could change all the cards on the table to the disadvantage of many and to the advantage of the oil lobby."

Tillerson participated in Trump's meeting with Cardinal Parolin and told reporters that while climate change did not come up in Trump's meeting with the pope, they had "a good exchange on the climate change issue" with the cardinal.

"The cardinal was expressing their view that they think it's an important issue," Tillerson said shortly after the meeting. "I think they were encouraging continued participation in the Paris accord. But we had a good exchange on the difficulty of balancing addressing climate change, responses to climate change, and ensuring that you still have a thriving economy and you can still offer people jobs so they can feed their families and have a prosperous economy."

Asked how Trump responded to Cardinal Parolin's encouragement to stick with the Paris climate agreement, Tillerson said: "The president indicated we're still thinking about that, that he hasn't made a final decision. He, I think, told both Cardinal Parolin and also told Prime Minister (Paolo) Gentiloni that this is something that he would be taking up for a decision when we return from this trip. It's an opportunity to hear from people. We're developing our own recommendation on that. So it'll be something that will probably be decided after we get home."

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Dennis Sadowski in Washington and Cindy Wooden in Rome contributed to this story.

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