Environmentalist Syncretism Masquerading as Catholic Teaching
Vatican News portal (December 11, 2025) promotes International Mountain Day with an article blending climate alarmism, pagan spirituality, and superficial biblical references. The piece claims mountains “hold deep spiritual and ecological significance” while lamenting glacier loss and “a warming planet.” It describes mountains as “water towers” providing freshwater to billions, cites biblical mountain narratives reductively, and warns of cultural erosion from glacier melt—particularly citing an Ethiopian cliff church requiring dangerous ascents. The article advocates for “global action” combining “Indigenous knowledge with science” to reduce greenhouse emissions and adapt to climate change.
Naturalism Displaces Supernatural Finality
The article reduces sacred scripture to ecological propaganda. Mountains in divine revelation—Sinai, Tabor, Carmel—were loci theologici where God manifested His law, glory, and judgment. The piece distorts this by framing them as mere “water towers” and symbols of environmental fragility. “Non in commotione Dominus” (1 Kings 19:11-12)—God’s presence transcends creation, yet the text idolizes nature by claiming creation is “a space in which God is omnipresent.” This pantheistic implication contradicts the De Fide truth that God is present everywhere by essence, power, and presence (Council of Trent, Session VI) but not materially inherent in creation.
False Equivalence Between Divine Revelation and Pagan Animism
By stating Indigenous peoples “revere glaciers as sacred spaces—the homes of gods, ancestors, or spirits,” the article legitimizes idolatry. Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors condemns the idea that “the Church ought to tolerate the errors of philosophy” (Proposition 11). Worse, it equates Ethiopian cliff-climbing rituals with Moses receiving the Decalogue—a blasphemous parallel. The Ethiopian practice exemplifies works-righteousness, implicitly denying “sola gratia” (Ephesians 2:8-9) by treating physical exertion as salvific.
Climate Alarmism as Globalist Trojan Horse
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is cited as an authority for “sustainable land-use policies,” yet the article omits the FAO’s promotion of population control and gender ideology. Pius XI’s Quas Primas (1925) declares Christ’s kingship over nations, mandating that “rulers of states… fulfill this duty themselves and with their people” to honor divine law. Instead, the piece demands “global action” to reduce emissions—code for centralized control antithetical to Catholic subsidiarity.
Omission of Repentance and Divine Judgment
Nowhere does the text mention sin, repentance, or God’s wrath against ecological exploitation rooted in greed. Pius XII warned that natural disasters are divine chastisements for societal apostasy (Radio Message, 1951). By framing glacier loss as purely anthropogenic, the article espouses the modernist heresy that man—not God—controls creation’s destiny.
Syncretic Worship of “Our Common Home”
The conclusion that preserving mountains is “part of our mission to safeguard our common home” reduces the Church’s mandate to environmental activism. Contrast this with Our Lord’s words: “Seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). The true mission—”going therefore, teach ye all nations” (Matthew 28:19)—is supplanted by a globalist agenda.
Source:
International Mountain Day: Preserving our tallest lifelines (vaticannews.va)
Date: 11.12.2025