Eco-friendly pope

By Sam Lucero
News and Information Manager

Saving souls has always been the business of church leaders. Today, the work has expanded to saving the environment.

In his World Peace Day message issued Jan. 1, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged global efforts to halt pollution and destruction of the environment.

"We need to care for the environment: It has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant guiding criterion," he said. "The problems looming on the horizon are complex and time is short."

Just days after Pope Benedict's World Peace Day message was delivered, a German company announced plans to install a solar rooftop on the Vatican's Paul VI audience hall.

The solar roof system, with 2,000 solar modules, will produce a reported 315,500 kilowatt-hours of power a year. This is enough power to offset some 315 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, according to SolarWorld, the German solar company that will build and install the panels.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is believed to be a major cause of global warming.

Installation of the solar modules will begin this spring, with a completion date sometime before summer. The system will feed electricity directly into the Vatican's power grid and will require no maintenance.

In another eco-friendly move, the Vatican last July accepted the donation of two companies that will designate part of a reforestation project in Hungary as the Vatican Climate Forest.

The number of trees to be planted as part of the reforestation project depended on the Vatican's 2007 energy usage. The companies planned to offset all of the Vatican's 2007 emissions of carbon dioxide.

By offsetting its yearly emissions, the Vatican would become "the world's first carbon-neutral sovereign state."

It's no surprise that protecting the earth is a common theme for Pope Benedict, said his spokesman, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi.

"Knowing we are created by God makes us responsible before him and before others," said Fr. Lombardi, echoing the pope's sentiments.

Longtime environmental activists should be enthusiastic about Pope Benedict's vocal support for ecological concerns. It not only lends a moral voice to the issue, it leads to action.