A U.S.-based conservative group is warning Pope Francis against backing environmental policies that could drive people into life threatening poverty while having no impact on global warming.
A video by the Energy & Environment Legal Institute (EELI) claims policies often championed by left-wing politicians and environmental groups “will actually harm the most vulnerable among us.”
“Ask yourself, what is the right number of the most vulnerable to kill for no impact on our climate?” EELI asks in its video, cautioning the pope against coming out in favor of cutting carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.
Pope Francis is set to release his encyclical on global warming this Thursday, but an Italian magazine leaked a draft version of the document Monday. In the draft, Francis writes there’s “very consistent scientific consensus that we are in the presence of an alarming warming of the climatic system,” according to a translation in The Wall Street Journal.
Francis also pushed for “replacing fossil fuels and developing sources of renewable energy.”
The pope placed the blame for global warming on mankind, saying “numerous scientific studies indicate that the greater part of global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide and others) emitted above all due to human activity.”
EELI, however, argues global warming policies enacted across Europe are already having dire consequences. These policies have caused electricity and fuel prices to skyrocket to the point where the German media has labeled electricity a “luxury good” and the “second rent.”
“Energy poverty is killing Europe’s seniors and poor by the tens of thousands,” EELI’s video states. “Climate policies that no one actually claims will have any impact on the climate.”
“Pope Francis, we hope your advisors give you the full story,” the video adds. “Social justice does not mean killing seniors and the poor for a fashionable and meaningless gesture. Let’s stand together and stop advocating for policies that kill the most vulnerable people. Please.”
The Vatican has slammed the Italian media for leaking its encyclical, saying it was a “heinous act.”
“An Italian text of a draft of the Pope’s Encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ has been published. Please note that it is not the final text, and that the rules of the Embargo remain in place,” the Vatican said in an official statement. “We ask journalists to respect professional standards, which call for waiting for the official publication of the final text.”
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