Pope Francis says Destroying the Planet is a Sin

Whenever we get reports on the things famous people said or did, we can always tell before reading the report if the story will have a positive or negative spin by the accompanying photo of the person in question. Each one of us has good and bad photographic moments.....some photos are unattractive, no matter how you may look in "real life", and it's easy enough to search the Internet and find a less than flattering photo of anyone we don't agree with.

Judging by the photo used by Breitbart for it's recent report on Pope Francis' message for the "World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation" I knew immediately that the editors were none too pleased with the Pope's comments on climate change and global warming.

For the most part, the writer of the article, Thomas D Williams accurately reported Francis' comments, but it was the accompanying photo, and the dismissive lede - Pope Francis: Global Warming a ‘Sin,’ Man Can Atone by Recycling and ‘Car-Pooling’ - whereby Williams displayed his passive-aggressive attitude toward the Pope's comments.

Williams attempted to dismiss everything the Pope said with his final sentence in the article, "Apparently the Pontiff's words have already been heard, since scientists are now forecasting that 2017 will be a cooler year than 2016".

Apparently Williams failed to read the entire Business Insider article he linked to. Climate scientists are indeed forecasting that the heat may not be quite as bad in 2017 due to the cyclical fading of El Niño. Those scientists do not deny climate change and note that there was no sign of a strong La Niña, El Niño's opposite that can cool the planet.

On a positive note, William's article does link to Pope Francis' message as shared by Vatican website. It would behoove us all to read the Pope's message and give prayerful consideration to it.