POPE MOVES TOWARDS A GREENER VATICAN

Times Online
November 26, 2008
UK

Vatican initiative to promote the protection of the environment begins
with solar panel installationRichard Owen in Rome In a move toward a
"greener Vatican" Pope Benedict XVI today (Wednesday) held his first
audience in a hall heated and lit by newly installed solar panels on
the roof.

L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, described the event as
the "first ecological audience" in the Paul VI audience hall, designed
in 1971 by the architect Pier Luigi Nervi. As the Pope addressed the
9000 faithful, 2,400 solar panels on the roof above his head converted
sunlight into electricity to light and heat the hall.

As if on cue, the skies above Rome turned clear and sunny after days
of cloud and rain. The Vatican said the solar panel project was one
of several "concrete and tangible initiatives" to promote protection
of the environment, and part of the "green culture characterised by
ethical values" promoted by Pope Benedict.

An inauguration ceremony was held the Pontifical Academy of Sciences,
attended by Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, the Governor of Vatican City,
Frank Asbeck, president of Solar World AG, the Germany company which
donated the panels, and Carlo Rubbia, winner of the Nobel Prize
for Physics.

The Vatican, one of the world’s smallest states, covering 108 acres,
aims to become the world’s "first carbon-neutral state", and is
growing a 37 acre forest in Hungary to offset its annual carbon
dioxide emissions. It has undertaken to use renewable energy for 20
percent of its needs by 2020.

The panels on the undulating 5000 square metre roof of the audience
hall will produce 300 kilowatt hours of "clean energy", supplying the
energy needs of the hall itself and nearby Vatican buildings. Vatican
officials said the panels would save the equivalent of 80 tonnes of
oil each year.

They cannot be seen from the ground and so will not affect the Vatican
skyline, officials said.

At the audience, at which the Pope was accompanied by Aram I,
Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Lebanon, the pontiff
deplored "misunderstandings among Christians". He said the Armenian
leader’s "fraternal visit" was "an occasion to strengthen the bonds
that exist and a further step in the journey toward full unity,
which is the objective of all Christians and a gift of the Lord."

Aram I also referred to "the bonds that connect the two apostolic
Churches" and the "communion of traditions and values that make it
possible to look to the journey toward full unity."

In talks with Aram 1 Pope Benedict deplored the "unspeakable suffering"
experienced by Armenians in the twentieth century, but did not use
the word "genocide", even though it had previously been used by John
Paul II.

The Armenian authorities say up to 1.5 million Armenians died in
orchestrated killings by Turks during the final years of the Ottoman
Empire.

Turkey says the killings occurred when Armenians revolted against
the Ottoman Empire in collaboration with an invading Russian army.

Aram I said "Churches, religions and states should recognise all
genocides, including the Armenian genocide, and they should commit
themselves to preventing all genocides." The Armenian Apostolic Church
dates to the sixth century, when Armenian Christians broke with Rome
over theological disputes arising from the Council of Chalcedon in
451. A joint theological commission is currently examining remaining
differences.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity, told Vatican Radio that the Holy See regards
the Armenian genocide as "a fact". "The Vatican’s stance on this issue
was stated at the time during a visit to Armenia by John Paul II"
Cardinal Kasper said. "The Pope visited the genocide monument there
and used the word ‘genocide,’ although this did not please Turkey."