Will The Next Pope Be A Climate Sceptic?

Cardinal George Pell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Australian are urging Cardinal George Pell to throw his mitre into the ring and become the nation’s first pope. But the bookies still think the 71-year-old Victorian needs divine intervention to land the top job. “The white smoke’ll just be the barbie,” one tweeted, referring to the smoke that shoots from the Sistine Chapel once a new pontiff is selected after the secret Conclave ballot. While Cardinal George Pell is considered a $41 outsider, observers said yesterday he was “not without a chance” to replace the 85-year-old Pontiff, who is stepping down because of ill health.  --Bruce McDougall, Herald Sun, 12 February 2013

When the white smoke goes up, who will lead the Church? My front-runners [among others]: Cardinal George Pell, of Australia: He’d be a great choice for the English-speaking world and would easily become another no-nonsense media star. –Louise Mensch, The Sun, 13 February 2013

As a bishop who regularly preaches to congregations of every age and at widely different levels of prosperity and education, I have some grasp of the challenges in presenting a point of view to the general public. This helps me to understand the propaganda achievements of the climate extremists, at least until their attempted elimination of the Medieval Warming and then Climategate. The immense financial costs true believers would impose on economies can be compared with the sacrifices offered traditionally in religion, and the sale of carbon credits with the pre-Reformation practice of selling indulgences. Some of those campaigning to save the planet are not merely zealous but zealots. --Cardinal George Pell: One Christian Perspective On Climate Change, The 2011 Annual GWPF Lecture

Something good came out of the epic drought in the US last year. Nine percent of the nation’s ethanol plants have stopped production. Just 91 more to go. --Walter Russell Mead, Via Meadia, 11 February 2013

The Spanish government’s latest bid to cut its growing debts to the country’s energy sector is expected to slash profits at renewable energy companies as Madrid continues to grapple with a €28bn deficit built up through years of subsidies. Analysts at Mirabaud expect Acciona’s earnings per share to drop by 40 per cent, while Abengoa’s EPS are forecast to drop by 12 per cent. Analysts at Goldman Sachs estimate a 60 per cent hit to Acciona’s EPS. --Miles Johnson, Financial Times, 7 February 2013

The threat of global warming may stretch so far beyond Earth that it affects asteroids millions of miles away in space — at least according to one CNN anchor. “Talk about something else that’s falling from the sky and that is an asteroid. What’s coming our way? Is this an effect of, perhaps, of global warming, or is this just some meteoric occasion?” CNN’s Deborah Feyerick asked Bill “The Science Guy” Nye, head of the Planetary Society, in a Saturday segment.  --Fox News, 12 February 2013