Pope Calls For Global Authority Over World's Natural Resources

In new encyclical, pope calls for sharing earth's resources equitably

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI dedicated a portion of his new social encyclical, "Caritas in Veritate" ("Charity in Truth"), to the urgent duty to share the earth's resources equitably and safeguard the environment for future generations...

"The international community has an urgent duty to find institutional means of regulating the exploitation of nonrenewable resources, involving poor countries in the process, in order to plan together for the future," he said.

Energy resources must be redistributed justly around the world, not left to "whoever is first to claim the spoils, or whoever is able to prevail over the rest," he said.