Another Anti-Catholic Appointed to a Vatican Position

Stop the ride. I want to get off:

A pontifical act published on the Holy See Press Office website today announced the appointment of Hans Joachim Schellnhuber to an academy under the direction of the Holy See:

The Holy Father has appointed Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, professor of theoretical physics at the University of Potsdam and director of the Institute for Climate Impact in Potsdam, Federal Republic of Germany, as ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences [sic].

Schellnhuber was chosen to be one among four speakers to talk at the roll-out of the Pope’s global warming encyclical Thursday, and is said to have helped draft the encyclical.

He’s a controversial appointee because, in addition to being a radical promoter of the theory of man-made climate change, he is an atheist and an advocate of population control. He once said the carrying capacity of the earth is less than one billion; considering the earth currently holds more than seven billion people, this would mean he favors the reduction of the vast majority of mankind.

He has made calls for an “Earth Constitution that would transcend the UN Charter” and a “Global Council” comprised of members elected by everyone on earth. He has also suggested creation of a “Planetary Court … a transnational legal body open to appeals from everybody, especially with respect to violations of the Earth Constitution.”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

At the same time, Carolyn Woo, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, has also been added to the list of presenters of the eco-encyclical.

Sound legit? Not if you consider the deeply troubling CRS track record. Woo was in the news just last month for something more than a little controversial:

Breaking a month of silence on the scandal created by one of its high-level executives living in a homosexual “marriage,” the head of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) said the organization has yet to decide whether it should employ someone who violates Church teaching in this manner.

The US Bishops’ international relief agency is working on it, CRS President and CEO Carolyn Woo told Aleteia’s John Burger in an interview published May 18.

“CRS has a senior person who is in a civil gay marriage,” Woo said, “and the question is, ‘Is that a violation of Church teaching?’ I just want to say we are working through this.”

“Gay marriage,” she stated, “of course, is a very complex issue.”

News broke April 20 of CRS Vice President of Overseas Finance Rick Estridge entering into a homosexual “marriage” in the same month of 2013 that he was promoted to vice president by CRS.

[…]

Woo did acknowledge Church teaching on marriage in her deferred remarks to Aleteia.

“The Church is very clear that marriage as a sacrament is between a man and a woman open to procreation. There’s also the Church teaching on natural law. Those are the teachings,” she said.

But she questioned whether the Church had a defined expectation to uphold Church principles in hiring its people, specifically in situations like that of CRS and Estridge.

“Does it mean that the Church should not employ anyone who is in a gay marriage? Are we giving a blanket ‘No’?” she asked. “If it’s not a blanket ‘No,’ are there particular positions, such as positions that are ministerial in nature, positions which relate to the formation of the faith of young children at school?”

“While the teaching is clear, as it translates into practice there has not been defined a common approach for dealing with employment, particularly when the position is non-ministerial, when the person is not a Catholic, when the agency is not a school,” she said. “So we’re in that area when there have been various steps forward, but not a clear path.”

Are credentialed Catholics who follow Church teaching really so hard to find?