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The Green Legacy Left Behind By the Green Pope

The new Pope of the Vatican has been heralded and the much-awaited white smoke had finally raised from the Vatican to indicate that the election of the Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the 266th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.ย  However, there are a lot of expectations that Pope Benedict XVI has left behind and the green trends that he has set which the new Pope would have to meet or even surpass in order to share the โ€˜green legacyโ€™.

It is not wrong to state that Pope Benedict was indeed the โ€˜Green Popeโ€™ which is what he was coined as during his tenure at the Vatican for over eight years.ย  The pontiff has indeed made environmental awareness a religious matter during his tenure and therefore struck a chord with the young generation of today.ย  In fact, Pope John Paul II is also to be credited for campaigning for the environment through his messages of preserving the Earth as it was Godโ€™s invaluable creation.ย  Once, Benedict donned his papal robes and assumed papacy in the year 2005, there was no looking back to the green crusade, as he made environmental protection a key agenda of the churchโ€™s doctrine.ย  Not only did he deliver innumerable speeches on the green topic, but he proactively worked upon finding out ways and means that included his personal contribution to the environment at large.ย  Pollution and emissions were something that he urged world leaders to cut down on, and this strengthened his resolve to convert the Vatican City into an emission-free country.ย  He also approved and facilitated the plans for installing 2,700 solar panels above the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican which would generate enough power that would entirely take care of cooling, heating and lighting needs of a portion of the Vatican.ย  Pope Benedict also initiated the purchasing of carbon credits through the Vatican bank thus sponsoring a whole forest in Hungary.ย  Another very popular green initiative was the Popemobile, which was his partially electric vehicle that he would use for reducing his carbon footprint.

Going-Green-otv

Some view Pope Benedicts moves for protecting the environment to be rather shallow and publicity-based in order to create good will and a reputation.ย  However, his efforts have largely been rendered genuine and sincere as he has succeeded in aligning the views of the Vatican Church with the modern ideology making the Catholic Church more popular.ย  Benedict has always employed morality and has always founded his steps towards environmental protection to be liaised with protecting Godโ€™s created world and thus openly placed the church as an ally in the Green movement.

Benedict has relinquished his papal position, yet his tremendous contribution through the church for the environment cannot go unnoticed or unacknowledged.ย  He has advocated ecological sensitivity from the Church which had never before demonstrated progressive thoughts and inspired the world to carry forth in the pursuit of protecting the earth.ย  Hence, Benedict will always be remembered as the โ€œGreen Popeโ€™ who combined Christian values with a crucial agenda and touched the hearts of many environmentalists.

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