Over 300 members who will travel, talk, and in short emit Co2. In view of the meeting, the General Secretariat takes action by self-imposing a green penance.
The commitment to safeguard Creation of the XVI ordinary general assembly of the Synod of Bishops : is the title of a short statement just issued by the General Secretariat of the Synod in view of the meeting which will open on 4 October at the same time as the announced publication of Laudato yes 2.0 .
In short: such a crowded Synod will have a fair environmental impact (and not only) but «the General Secretariat of the Synod intends to make its contribution to the protection of creation through a form of compensation for the residual CO2 emissions produced by the next XVI General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops”. Well, of course: the members of the assembly have to travel from all over the world to reach the city, not to mention the huge emissions linked to logistics. If the synod fathers (or synod mothers, synod brothers and sisters) were to get excited in the debate, try to imagine the Co2 produced by over 300 mouths.
You can’t preach ecological conversion and then do badly, they must have thought . Hence a sort of green penance: «part of the residual CO2 emissions will be offset thanks to projects capable of generating a carbon “credit” capable of balancing the accumulated “debt”. «The identified project, carried out in Nigeria and Kenya, aims to spread efficient kitchen stoves and water purification technologies for families, communities and institutions». The old works of charity done for the love of God and neighbor are obsolete for a hierarchy so taken by the environmental issue as to replace the old sin/grace, fall/redemption dichotomy, with “carbon debt/carbon credit”. To find someone to take care of Christians (an endangered species), should we perhaps turn to the WWF? Some will object that we are anchored to the letter, closed to the Spirit who blows where he wants. The letter kills, the Spirit vivifies, but it is equally certain that the Synod pollutes.
Once Stalin asked himself : “How many divisions does the Pope have?”, today the question must be reformulated, replacing “divisions” with “issues”. There would be a definitive solution, free and with zero environmental impact: no Synod. It pollutes the environment, with almost no benefits for souls.
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