Science? Yes. Green Ideology? It’s Not Part of the Catholic Faith

07-27-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Leonard F. Villa

Is Pope Leo XIV a supporter of this ideology? The harmony to which the Pope and Saint Augustine refer is antithetical to that of the green ideology. Right reason and divine Revelation teach us that man, created in the image of God, stands at the top of the hierarchical scale of creation. Nature is a means given by God to man to achieve his supernatural end. Man must respect nature and its laws, which are not only physical and chemical, but also religious and moral.

St. Ignatius Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises gives us this foundational truth: Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. And the other things on the face of the earth are created for man and that they may help him in prosecuting the end for which he is created. From this it follows that man is to use them as much as they help him on to his end, and ought to rid himself of them so far as they hinder him as to it. The opposite of this is the attitude of rebellion, the “Frankenstein mentality,” that creation including human nature is the plaything of humans, as if they are gods, and have absolute power over it to re-create to do anything they desire, hence aberrations like gender ideology.

The website of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops had the following headline: Pope prays for conversion of those resisting climate action at new Mass. The Pope is quoted "In a burning world, be it because of global warming or armed conflicts," people today find themselves filled with fear, …The church, he added, must speak prophetically before the climate crisis "even when it requires the boldness to oppose the destructive power of the 'princes' of this world." Is the world burning? Is there really a climate crisis? That is a scientific question that is not settled. While Pope Leo and Pope Francis might believe it, that does not make this, by that fact alone, part of the Catholic Faith. The Catholic Faith is based on Scripture and Tradition entrusted to the teaching authority of the Church about which Pope Leo recently reminded the Conference of Latin American Bishops concerning their deliberations.

The Catholic Faith teaches creation is a gift from the Creator to be used according to His laws and order and it is not to be abused or manipulated simply for human gain and profit. There must be a sensible care of the environment as God’s gift. There has always been climate change, warm periods, cold periods but the issue is whether this is caused by human beings? It cannot mean resorting to pagan concepts about Mother Earth or adopting idols of pagan cultures as if God is not the Author of creation establishing its meanings and laws. Green ideology, as opposed to environmental science, tends to see every crisis and disaster as a sign of global warming caused by human beings. Recall though that in the 70’s there was global cooling chatter. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-global-cooling-story-came-to-be/ What you don’t often hear in the media (in the Church?) is the criticism of the global warming theory including past reports of “cooked data” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/feb/01/leaked-emails-climate-jones-chinese Be that as it may, ultimately it is a scientific question that will be settled by science not by ideology. What follows now is criticism of the global warming ideology: There is a widespread misconception that global warming threatens humanity and that humans are the main contributing factor. Climate change caused by human activities (particularly the use of fossil fuels, deforestation, and intensive agriculture) has reached a critical point, posing an urgent threat to the environment, health, economic stability, and world peace.

Addressing this emergency requires a range of measures across various sectors, including energy, transport, industry, and agriculture, which the European Union has summarized under the term "green transition" or "Green Deal." The theory of global warming is vastly exaggerated, and scientific data shows that more people die from cold than from heat; deaths from cold outnumber those from heat by a ratio of 9 to 1, and higher temperatures are currently reducing the number. If climate change exists, is it due to nature or man, and if so, in what sense? This is not the first time climate change has occurred. The climate of the Middle Ages, for example, had been temperate, as had its customs.

The 14th century, which marked the transition to the modern era, witnessed a sharp drop in temperatures. During this period, Alpine and polar glaciers advanced, leading to, among other consequences, the disappearance of the vine, which was cultivated in England. It was not the end of the world, but the end of an era; and throughout history, natural disasters have accompanied the infidelity and apostasy of nations. It occurred at the end of the Christian Middle Ages, and it seems to be repeating itself today. Modern man has sought to change the laws of nature, but in his defiance of the divine and natural order of the universe, he can only be defeated. Modernity sought to replace the worship of God with the worship of man. This is green ideology, in its most radical form; "Planet Earth" is more than a homeland; it is an earthly religion. (END)