Pope Makes Appeal on the Environment
ROME — Pope Benedict XVI reinforced the Vatican's growing concern with protecting the environment in the traditional midnight Christmas Mass on Tuesday, bemoaning an "ill-treated world" in a homily given to thousands of pilgrims here in the seat of the world's billion Roman Catholics.
On the day Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ some 2,000 years ago, Benedict referred to one early father of the church, Gregory of Nyssa, a bishop in what is now Turkey. "What would he say if he could see the state of the world today, through the abuse of energy and its selfish and reckless exploitation?" the pope asked, according to the Vatican's English translation.
He expanded on the theme briefly by saying that an 11th-century theologian, Anselm of Canterbury, had spoken "in an almost prophetic way" as he "described a vision of what we witness today as a polluted world whose future is at risk."
In recent months, Benedict has spoken out increasingly about environmental concerns, and the Vatican has even purchased "carbon offsets," credits on the global market to compensate for carbon dioxide emissions, for the energy consumed in the world's smallest state, Vatican City.
Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/25/world/europe/25pope.html?hp
