Rick Santorum Wants Pope Francis To Stop Talking About Climate Change

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum says he loves Pope Francis, but he wants the pontiff to stop talking about climate change.

Santorum, a devout Catholic, told Philadelphia radio host Dom Giordano on Monday that the pope should "leave science to the scientists."

His comments come as the pope, who holds a degree as a chemical technician and worked as a chemist before turning to the priesthood, becomes increasingly vocal about climate change. Pope Francis is preparing a groundbreaking encyclical to be released in the coming weeks that's expected to make the case that taking action to fight climate change is a moral and religious imperative.

Santorum described himself as a "huge fan" of the pope and said he appreciates the pontiff's commitment to family issues, but he wants the church to stay out of science.

“The church has gotten it wrong a few times on science, and I think that we probably are better off leaving science to the scientists and focusing on what we're really good at, which is theology and morality,” Santorum said. "When we get involved with political and controversial scientific theories, I think the church is not as forceful and credible."

His full comments from "The Dom Giordano Show" are included below. The discussion of the pope starts at about the 10-minute mark.

(Story continues below audio.)

Despite his pleas to the pope, Santorum has a history of rejecting established science. He denies that climate change is man-made and has dismissed global warming as a "hoax" despite the fact that 97 percent of peer-reviewed papers on climate science endorse the consensus view that human activity is causing climate change, according to an analysis. In addition, surveys find that 97-98 percent of actively publishing climate scientists agree that "climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities."

Santorum has also rejected evolution and instead believes in "intelligent design,” according to Discover magazine.

Pope Francis says evolution does not contradict church doctrine.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said Pope Francis holds a master's degree in chemistry. That is incorrect. While he received a secondary diploma in chemistry, it was not a master's degree.

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Monster storm that stretches from the coast of Spain to Canada threatens to wreak havoc on both sides of the Atlantic.

• A giant storm with hurricane force winds was seen swirling eastward across the Atlantic Ocean, NOAA indicated 
• It is expected to lessen in strength, but parts of the United Kingdom may experience 'stormy conditions'
• Two other storms are also barreling across the Atlantic Ocean - Hurricane Fay and Hurricane Gonzalo
• Gonzalo has already battered the West Indies - downing trees, flooding streets and destroying buildings - and could become a category four storm as it heads towards Bermuda
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  A monster comma-shaped storm stretching across nearly the whole North Atlantic is threatening to wreak havoc on both sides of the ocean.
  Video of the massive storm was released by the National Weather Service Ocean Prediction Center (NWSOPC) to YouTube as hurricane force winds developed at its center creating waves as high as 50-feet.
  But it is only one of three huge depressions currently filling the ocean, with Hurricane Fay and Hurricane Gonzalo also barreling towards land.
  Gonzalo has already battered islands across the West Indies, with images revealing destroyed boats, down trees and debris strewn across beaches in Guadeloupe, Saint Barthelemy and Saint-Martin on Tuesday.
  Now the storm, which could reach a category four today, is poised to hit Bermuda later this week with sustained winds of more than 110 miles per hour.
  Scroll down for video
  
  

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  On the move: The giant storm is seen across the Atlantic Ocean, with two other storms, Hurricane Fay and Hurricane Gonzalo, below
  
  

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  Joining forces: Another satellite image taken on Wednesday shows Hurricane Gonzalo, lower right, as it heads towards Bermuda
  
  

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  Danger: Red near the center of the storm indicates hurricane force, according to NOAA 
  The Washington Post reported Tuesday that 'the storm rapidly intensified between Sunday and Monday. Its central pressure dropped 46 mb in 24 hours (from 1002 mb to 956 mb) – a textbook meteorological bomb. Late Monday, the storm’s pressure likely bottomed out around 948 mb which is comparable to levels in many category 3 hurricanes'.
  Pressure went up again slightly, the newspaper reported, but said that '[g]raduated weakening is forecast over the next few days before it likely brings stormy conditions to the northern British Isles Friday into the weekend'.

There were 50-foot waves because of the storm, Mashable reported.

Much further south, Hurricane Gonzalo gathered strength moving over open water away from the eastern end of the Caribbean, and forecasters said it could become a powerful category 4 storm Wednesday as it headed toward Bermuda.

Authorities on some of the smaller islands buffeted by Gonzalo said at least one person was dead and two were missing. Dozens of boats were damaged and power was knocked out in the Dutch Caribbean territory of St. Maarten.

Satellite shows hurricane MONSTER storm expected to hit UK

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Destruction: Destroyed buildings can be seen along the beach of Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe on Tuesday after Gonzalo swept through

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Wreckage: The storm picked up even more strength as it left Guadeloupe (pictured) and could become a Category 4 storm

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Shaken: A woman walks past damaged trees in Orient Bay on the French Caribbean island of Saint Martin on Tuesday. Three people are missing at sea after the hurricane Gonzalo swept through the French Caribbean islands of Saint Barthelemy and Saint-Martin

The storm had top sustained winds of nearly 125 mph (205 kph) and was centered about 705 miles (1,135 kilometers) south of Bermuda late on Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It was moving northwest at 13 mph (20 kph).

The center said Gonzalo could become a category 4 hurricane during the day while it takes a path that would take it near Bermuda on Friday. Category 4 storms have sustained winds of at least 130 mph (209 kph) with the potential to cause catastrophic damage.

'Folks in Bermuda are going to need to start paying attention to this thing,' Dennis Feltgen, a National Hurricane Center meteorologist, said by phone.

Bermuda's government posted a hurricane watch for the British territory, urging islanders to keep an eye on the storm's progress.

Officials said flights departing Bermuda on Thursday, Friday and Saturday were fully booked.

Gonzalo was blamed for the death of an unidentified elderly man who was aboard a boat in St. Maarten's Simpson Bay Lagoon, which looked like a ship graveyard Tuesday with several masts protruding from the water.

Acting Coast Guard Director Wendell Thode said 22 of the 37 boats destroyed by the storm were in the lagoon.

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Havoc: A picture shows damaged utility poles in the aftermath of the hurricane Gonzola on October 14, 204 on Saint Martin

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Floods: Streets are flooded following hurricane Gonzola in Marigot on the French Caribbean island of Saint Martin on Tuesday

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Aftermath: Residents survey the damage in Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe after the hurricane swept through on Tuesday

'Most of the boats that are destroyed are completely under water,' he said.

Authorities were searching for a man last seen on a dinghy near the French Caribbean territory of St. Martin and another man last seen standing close to a harbor in St. Barts, said Matthieu Doligez, general secretary of the prefecture in St. Martin.

Amy Arrindell, vice president of the St. Maarten Zoological and Botanical Foundation, said the St. Maarten Zoo was heavily damaged but no animals escaped or died. She said trees were uprooted, the petting zoo was destroyed and the animals' enclosures were flooded.

'There is major damage to the structure,' she said. 'It is total devastation.

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Pentagon Warns of Immediate National Security Threats From Climate Change

Rising sea levels, hotter global temperatures, wildly fluctuating precipitation patterns, and more frequent extreme weather systems will likely intensify global instability, hunger, and poverty. These events could very well lead to acute food and water shortages, an explosion of pandemic diseases, waves of destitute refugees, and violent conflagrations over dwindling natural resources — a likelihood that should be viewed as an immediate threat to America's national security.

Those are the sobering themes of a new report on climate change, authored not by scientists or environmentalists, but by uniformed personnel at the US Department of Defense.

"The loss of glaciers will strain water supplies in several areas of our hemisphere," US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday during a visit to Arequipa, Peru for the Conference of the Defense Ministers of the Americas. "Destruction and devastation from hurricanes can sow the seeds for instability. Droughts and crop failures can leave millions of people without any lifeline and trigger waves of mass migration."

'It's not a political issue for the military and hopefully that will be reflected in how policy-makers approach the problem.'

The report — the 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, which was released during Secretary Hagel's visit to Peru — proposes steps America's armed forces should take to identify and plan for the impacts of global climate change. It comes as NASA announced on Monday that September 2014 was the hottest September on record, making it increasingly likely that 2014 will become the warmest year ever documented.

"For the first time the Department of Defense is significantly engaging with the implications of climate change, specifically what to do now in terms of adapting to a new global threat," Andrew Holland, senior fellow for Energy and Climate at the American Security Project, told VICE News.

Holland says the report is not revolutionary. The Pentagon has been assessing the potential impacts of climate change for many years. What is novel about the roadmap, he says, is its emphasis on climate change as an immediate national security concern, one that should be discussed in the present rather than the future tense. And, he said, the document presents climate change as a risk not only to military personnel and equipment but to the well-being of the nation as a whole.

Study says East Coast might see tripling of flood events by 2030. Read more here.

It remains to be seen what — if any — influence the report will have on America's political class, much of which defers to the Pentagon on many issues but has resisted policies for cutting greenhouse gas emissions or preparing for rising oceans and warmer temperatures.
Francesco Femia, co-director at the Center for Climate and Security, told VICE News: "It's not a political issue for the military and hopefully that will be reflected in how policy-makers approach the problem."

'The politics of climate change are so weird right now.'

This sentiment is shared by Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who co-chairs the Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change and has been an outspoken advocate for federal action aimed at addressing global warming.

"Our military leaders have for years warned of the serious threat climate change poses to our national security," Sen. Whitehouse told VICE News. "The military's new climate adaptation roadmap presents another opportunity for Republicans in Congress who deny or ignore climate change to reassess their priorities. They face a simple question: Do they trust the big polluters, or do they trust our nation's military sworn to defend us from harm?"


Holland said the Pentagon report is unlikely to be a trans formative political moment in the near-term. He added, however, that retired and active duty military personnel have begun to speak out over the past several years about climate change, which is having an impact on otherwise skeptical audiences, albeit not yet within the Beltway.

"The politics of climate change are so weird right now," Holland told VICE News. "I'd like to think that having real, credentialed national security voices talk about the threat of climate change would make a difference. But I just don't know if it's trickling up yet to politicians and policy-makers."
"For them," Holland added, "climate change is still an energy problem rather than a national security problem."
Follow Robert S. Eshelman on Twitter: @RobertSEshelman
Image via Flickr


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