Sacramento 'Bishop' uses Francis' encyclical Laudato Si to call for sweeping 'climate change' legislation

Theguardian.com reports: Citing Pope Francis’s recent encyclical on the environment, leaders of the Catholic church in California spoke out this week to encourage wavering lawmakers to vote in favor of proposed sweeping climate change legislation that is struggling for passage in the final days of this session of the California legislature. Speaking about SB 350, a bill that would reduce petroleum emissions by 50% in coming years along with restrictions on other kinds of energy use, Bishop Jaime Soto of the Sacramento diocese urged tentative lawmakers “to really think about the future of California and the future of Californians and what is the legacy we want to leave them. “We are a pioneer state and we are innovators,” Soto said. “And so I would ask them to really consider that and not be hesitant to try to push forward what is essential not only for the good of California but can also set a high mark for other world leaders to follow.”

Their message, delivered inside the capitol building, comes as a direct result of the Pope’s Laudato Si, a 180-page call to action on climate change that suggests a revived emphasis on social and political activism from Catholic leaders. “We had not really engaged in many of the environmental issues over the course of time, but the encyclical drew the bishops’ attention to say we have to rethink this a little bit and reinvest and figure out where we are,” said Ned Dolejsi, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, the political policy arm of the church. “The pope is asking for political engagement and we are doing that in California and that is exciting.” Bishop Steven Blair of Stockton said that the encyclical was a “challenge” to California’s church leaders to “get away from the world of ideas into the reality of where we live … The church wants to be involved, we want to be a voice.”...