Bill Maher Says Pope Francis Believes Climate Change Action, Asks Why Catholic Rick Santorum Doesn't Agree
HBO host Bill Maher has pointed out that Pope Francis has given his full backing for action on climate change that some claim would reduce the so-called negative human impact on the environment. The outspoken atheist has subsequently asked why former Pennsylvania Senator and GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, a Roman Catholic, has not followed suit.
In a blog post for his "Real Time" show, Maher said "we've got the pope on board," concerning climate change action.
Francis has spoken out many times about the need for believers to take care of the environment, a duty he called a "Christian responsibility" at mass earlier this week.
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"When we hear that people have meetings about how to preserve creation, we can say: 'No, they are the greens!' No, they are not the greens! This is the Christian! This is our response to the first creation of God. And our responsibility," the pontiff said.
"A Christian who does not protect creation, who does not let it grow, is a Christian who does not care about the work of God, that work that was born from the love of God for us. And this is the first response to the first creation: protect creation, make it grow."
Francis has invited officials such as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head Gina McCarthy to the Vatican to talk about the importance of tackling climate change, The Guardian reported.
McCarthy said in January about working with Francis: "I think the most important thing that we can do, working with the pope, is to try to remind ourselves that this is really about protecting natural resources that human beings rely on, and that those folks that are most vulnerable — that the church has always been focused on, those in poverty and low income — are the first that are going to be hit and impacted by a changing climate."
Santorum, on the other hand, has expressed skepticism about whether human action is responsible for climate change, and said that even if that were the case, the U.S. would not be able to stop it.
"Is the climate warming? Clearly over the past, you know, 15 or 20 years the question is yes. The question is, is man having a significant impact on that, number one," Santorum told CNN in his response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in January.
"And number two, and this is even more important than the first, is there anything we can do about it? And the answer is, is there anything the United States can do about it? Clearly, no. Even folks who accept all of the science by the alarmists on the other side, recognize that everything that's being considered by the United States will have almost — well, not almost, will have zero impact on it given what's going on in the rest of the world."
Maher said that "someone should tell Santorum" about Pope Francis' views, and argued that the former senator is offering an "interesting interpretation of a Christian morality" by suggesting that "when you look at the really big picture, why do anything you don't want to do?"
