Eulogy for the Green Papacy

As we remember the Church's last eight years under the direction of Pope Benedict XVI, let us not overlook the Holy Father's consistent plea to safeguard the gift of Creation and to forge sustainable communities in the 21st century. In a segment called "Environmental Legacy of Pope Benedict XVI," this week's email update from the Catholic Climate Covenant highlights this aspect of his papacy:

Since his election to the papacy in 2005, Pope Benedict XVI has become known as the “Green Pope” for his prophetic words and actions urging all people, especially Christians, to recall their duties toward Creation. In his writings and addresses, the Holy Father reaffirms many traditional ecological teachings of the Church, including the giftedness of creation, the vocation of stewardship and the universal destination of created goods. In addition, Pope Benedict XVI has offered profound insights on the environment in view of contemporary challenges in the modern world: the need for an international climate treaty, advocacy for renewable energy technologies, and attention to environmental refugees.


Pope Benedict’s environmental legacy will undoubtedly be viewed as one of the strongest in papal history and includes consistent and emphatic attention to the modern issue of climate change.  The legacy began with his first mass as the new pontiff (The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth’s treasures no longer serve to build God’s garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction.) and has continued since:

•    2010 World Day of Peace Message: If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation
•    2009 Papal Encyclical Caritas in Veritate
•    2012 Address of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the Members of the Diplomatic Corps Accredited to the Holy See
•    Angelus - November 27, 2011
•    2011 World Day of Food Message
•    2010 Address of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the Members of the Diplomatic Corps for the Traditional Exchange of New Year’s Greetings
•    Message to 2009 Summit on Climate Change
•    2009 Easter Message Urbi et Orbi
•    Letter of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople on the Occasion of the Seventh Symposium of the Religion, Science and the Environment Movement

Also during his papacy, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences published a scientific report: Fate of Mountain Glaciers in the Anthropocene: A Report by the Working Group Commissioned by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences which calls for bold action to address the climate change that is causing the loss of mountain glaciers.

In the weeks ahead, we will be highlighting elements of Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy on climate change. Here is one particularly powerful quote from the his letter to the Ecumenical Patriarch: Preservation of the environment, promotion of sustainable development and particular attention to climate change are matters of grave concern for the entire human family.

 To reiterate some of the Holy Father's primary environmental teachings:

• Environmental crises arise from deficiencies within communities and world views
• An immediate and effective response to humans' effects on the earth's climate is of extreme importance
• Environmental protection is vital for human development and peace on earth
• The Created world has been put under our protection and ultimately does not belong to us, but to God

Quotations to discuss:

• On the occasion of his first Mass as Pope: "The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth’s treasures no longer serve to build God’s garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction."

• Caritas in Veritate, Chapter I, 18: "The truth of development consists in its completeness: if it does not involve the whole man and every man, it is not true development."

• The Pontifical Academy of the Sciences' Fate of Mountain Glaciers in the Anthropocene: "Warming of the Earth is unequivocal. Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperature since the mid-20th century is ‘very likely’—defined as more than 90% likely—to be the result of the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations. . . . Some of the current and anticipated impacts of climate change include losses of coral reefs, forests, wetlands, and other ecosystems; a rate of species extinction many times faster than the historic average; and water and food shortages for many vulnerable peoples. Increasing sea level rise and stronger storm surges threaten vulnerable ecosystems and peoples, especially those in low-lying islands and coastal nations. The loss of mountain glaciers discussed here threatens downstream populations, especially during the dry season when glacial runoff is most needed."