The climate of the Church

A Vatican observer recently pointed out that Benedict XVI has not once referred to "climate change" in his public pronouncements. What could possibly explain this reticence?
The Pope may be wary of committing the Church to the idea that human activities are causing the present alarming changes in the global climate. He may be aware that there is, as yet, no absolute scientific consensus on whether human beings are principally to blame for menaces such as global warming.
He may also be thinking back to the 1960s, when Pope Paul VI refused to lend support to the population control movement, which, with the backing of eminent scientists, claimed the world could not support rising numbers of people. Forty years later, the movement has been completely discredited.
Nevertheless, the Church must investigate the claims of environmental campaigners. And that is why we welcome the Vatican's summit on green issues. The measure of its success will not be whether the Apostolic Palace converts to energy-saving lightbulbs, but whether it helps to shape a distinctively Catholic environmental ethic based on solid facts rather than grim hypotheses.