The Pope Speaks...!!!!

At last....Pope Benedict has spoken out openly on the most pressing matter facing civilsation and all creation!

En route to Australia on a plane (God does do irony), the holy Father spoke of the need to "wake up concsciences" on climate change. "We have to be capable of responding to the great ecological challenge and to be up to the task of this challenge." "We have our responsibilities toward Creation," he said.

This is encouraging, as the Pope is due to release a new encyclical later this year on social teaching, and it is possible he will go into more detail. Apparently he told reporters that he didn't want to get into the technical and political detail involved indiscussing what sort of agreement the world should be aiming for in Copenhagen 2009 to replace Kyoto. Fair enough.

But he can lead on the "waking of consciences" by making it very clear that Catholics the world over have to undergo what JPII called "ecological conversion."