Obama Praises Pope Francis Encyclical On Climate Change: ‘We Have a Profound Responsibility to Protect Our Children’

Reuters
Reuters

President Obama issued a statement praising the new encyclical from Pope Francis on the issue of the environment, hailing the pope’s “moral authority” for action on climate change.

“I welcome His Holiness Pope Francis’s encyclical, and deeply admire the Pope’s decision to make the case — clearly, powerfully, and with the full moral authority of his position — for action on global climate change,” Obama wrote in a statement reacting to the encyclical titled “Laudato Si.”

In his statement, Obama cited the pope’s remarks about taking care of the world’s children.

“As Pope Francis so eloquently stated this morning, we have a profound responsibility to protect our children, and our children’s children, from the damaging impacts of climate change,” he said.

But Obama did not mention the areas of the encyclical that said the protection of nature was “incompatible with the justification of abortion.”

Obama said he was eager to discuss the issue of climate change with the pope, particularly during his pontiff’s visit to the White House in September.

“And as we prepare for global climate negotiations in Paris this December, it is my hope that all world leaders — and all God’s children — will reflect on Pope Francis’s call to come together to care for our common home,” Obama concluded.

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