Pope denounces failure of Copenhagen summit

Pope Benedict today denounced the failure of world leaders to agree on a new climate change treaty at the Copenhagen summit, saying that world peace depends on safeguarding God's creation.

In his annual meeting with the diplomatic corps, Pope Benedict told nearly 100 ambassadors, that the same "self-centered and materialistic" way of thinking that had sparked the worldwide financial meltdown was also endangering creation. To combat it will require a new way of thinking and a new lifestyle - and an acknowledgment that the question is a moral one, he said.

"The protection of creation is not principally a response to an aesthetic need, but much more to a moral need, inasmuch as nature expresses a plan of love and truth which is prior to us and which comes from God," he said.

To illustrate his point, the Pope recalled the experiences of eastern Europe under the ''materialistic and atheistic regimes'' of the former Soviet bloc.

''Was it not easy to see the great harm which an economic system lacking any reference to the truth about man had done not only to the dignity and freedom of individuals and peoples, but to nature itself, by polluting soil, water and air?'' he asked.

''The denial of God distorts the freedom of the human person, yet it also devastates creation.''

The Holy Father didn't name countries responsible for the failed negotiations, but he listed as victims the island nations at risk of rising seas and Africa, where the battle for natural resources, increased desertification and over-exploitation of land has resulted in wars.

''I trust that in the course of this year ... it will be possible to reach an agreement for effectively dealing with this question,'' Benedict said.

Since Benedict became Pope, the Vatican has installed solar panels on the roof of the Pope Paul VI Hall to provide electricity for the Vatican and has joined a reforestation project aimed at offsetting its CO2 emissions.

Source: VIS