WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans are shrugging off Pope Francis’ call for urgent action on climate change and dismissing his attempt to frame global warming as a moral issue.
“No, I’m sorry, it’s a political issue,” said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources. “Most people have their minds made up on this issue, so any more rhetoric about the issue doesn’t really add a heck of a lot more to it.”
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Environment Committee and Congress’ leading global warming skeptic, said he disagreed with “the pope’s philosophy on global warming.” He also warned that the pope’s encyclical will be used by “alarmists” to push policies that will lead to tax increases that would hit the poor hardest.
And Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., who chairs the House spending subcommittee that deals with the environment, said: “We respect the pope’s point of view, but it’s not the final determination, is it?”
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, simply said the pope is not afraid to challenge thinking on various issues, and “I respect his right to speak out on these important issues.”
In his encyclical released Thursday, Pope Francis called for a bold cultural revolution, framing climate change as an urgent moral issue and blaming global warming on an unfair, fossil fuel-based industrial model that harms the poor most.
Citing Scripture, his predecessors and bishops from around the world, the pope urged people of every faith and even no faith to undergo an awakening to save God’s creation for future generations.
GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush questioned the pope’s foray into climate science, saying “I don’t think we should politicize our faith.”
Taken together, the congressional and political reaction raised questions about whether the pope, who will address Congress in September, would succeed in spurring real action to combat climate change. Boehner demurred when asked whether the pope’s words would move Congress to act. “There’s a lot of bills out there. I’m not sure where in the process these bills may be,” Boehner said.
Stephen Colecchi, director of the Office of International Justice and Peace for the U.S. Conference of Bishops, was asked about Republican rejections of the encyclical after he briefed congressional staff at the Capitol.
He told reporters the document “was not just a pronouncement about ‘Thou shalt not.’ It’s a call to dialogue.”
The pope has urged readers to “open your hearts” to the encyclical, Colecchi said. “I would add, ‘open your minds.’ Just look at it. It’s very rich. To make judgments before you’ve even read it, read it.”
Bishop said he had not yet read the document, but said: “Everyone has the right to weigh in on any topic they want to, they should be considered with deference, but there is some kind of a separation of church and state. I’m going to respect that.”
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