MANILA (UCAN): “We believe that coal, the dirtiest of all fossil fuels and the single biggest contributor to the climate emergency, goes against everything that the Church stands for … especially the preservation of the life and dignity of the human person and the care for God’s creation,” a May 21 declaration by Philippine bishops and religious congregations said.
In line with the principles spelled out in Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’: On care for our common home, the declaration called halted the use of Church assets to finance such industries as coal that damage the environment.
Signatories included the bishops of Manila, San Carlos in the Visayas, members of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines and the Augustinian Missionaries of the Philippines.
The declaration also said that the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and climate emergency are both calls to bring about a “better world.”
The apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Manila, Bishop Broderick Pabillo, a staunch advocate for the environment, described the use of coal as “not cheap” as Filipinos pay dearly in other ways.
“Sadly, the well-being of the people is rarely considered in economies where the priority is economic growth. As long as business and government policies value profit over people, coal dependence will continue to prosper,” Pabillo recently wrote on social media.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Church welcomed a new bishop when Bishop Charlie Inzon became the new apostolic vicar of Jolo in Mindanao’s Sulu province on May 21. The event made history by being the first episcopal ordination to be celebrated without a congregation present. The event was livestreamed among the new bishop’s family, friends and brother priests.
“Nothing (not even Covid-19) can stop us from celebrating God’s gift and grace,” Bishop Inzon said.
