Pontiff, sadly, is misinformed

These are challenging times for some faithful Catholics such as I. While I have utmost respect and love for our popular, approachable pontiff, I believe he has been sadly misinformed about climate change, as evidenced in his encyclical on the environment released in June.

Pope Francis is not a scientist. I do not blame him for the work's inaccuracies. Rather, I blame the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the office responsible for advising the pope on scientific issues.

The encyclical states, "On many concrete questions, the Church has no reason to offer a definitive opinion; she knows that honest debate must be encouraged among experts, while respecting divergent views."

In stark contrast to this statement, only one scientist who does not accept the theory that climate change is caused by human activity was accepted to attend the Vatican seminar on climate change.

I am not a scientist, but I have studied and written about global warming for many years. I am what "warmists" now label a "denier," because I am skeptical of the doomsday predictions made by extremists, such as those advising the pope.

The computer models used by these climate scientists have long been predicting significant warming. But for the past 18 years, actual satellite data shows no evidence of warming.

Science is not based on a consensus. It is based on empirical evidence. If a scientific theory does not match the evidence, then the theory must be abandoned or reconstructed. In other words, the models are wrong and provide no rational basis for any climate policy.

When asked by CNS News to comment on this satellite data, John Christy, a professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, said: "That's basically a fact. There's not much to comment on." He added that basing government policy affecting millions on "very poor" climate models proven to be inaccurate is "a fool's errand."

Claiming that "the science is settled," climate-change alarmists demand urgent action to protect the planet from catastrophe. This includes costly efforts to reduce carbon emissions by restricting, taxing, and regulating fossil-fuel use.

President Obama's new Environmental Protection Agency regulations, intended to combat global warming, will do little, and at great expense to Americans.

In an open letter to Pope Francis, 90 prominent scientists, religious leaders, and academics explain that substituting intermittent energy sources, like wind and solar, for constant energy sources, like fossil fuels, would be catastrophic for the world's poor.

Wherever implemented by government regulation, such energy sources have proven to be unreliable and unsustainable without government subsidies - and that means taxation and higher energy costs for all.

The open letter goes on to say: "The poorest 1.3 billion in developing countries depend on wood and dried dung for cooking and heating fuels, smoke from which kills 4 million and debilitates millions every year. Affordable, reliable energy, such as fossil fuels, could help lift these people out of poverty, as it has lifted countless others."

In an annual message for World Peace Day, Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, said the world needs to care for the environment, but not to the extent that the welfare of plants and animals is made a higher priority than mankind's.

Neither pope, in addressing environmental issues, was speaking ex cathedra. That is, neither was making an infallible pronouncement. So, as faithful Catholics, we are free to disagree on climate change.

Remember, when it comes to science, the church does not have the best track record. It turns out that Galileo was right: The Earth does revolve around the sun.