Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 9-25-15 Edition

The First Family Greets The Pope In His Historic Visit To The U. S.
President Obama Declares California Valley A Major Disaster
FIRE IN CALIFORNIA
The First Family shook the Pope's hand on Tuesday at the start of his five-day U. S. tour, which coincides with the United Nations summit that will see more than 100 world leaders arrive in New York.
The Argentine-born pon- tiff comes to the U. S. bearing a message that the power and wealth that Washington sym- bolizes should be made to serve humanity, and not the other way around.
President Obama has found an ally in Pope Fran- cis on some of the most im- portant political issues of his presidency, but there are also areas where the leaders of the United States and the Catholic Church will likely never see eye to eye.
The White House says the President and the Pope’s meeting in the Oval Office Wednesday won’t focus on politics, but instead will be about their shared values.
Here’s a look at a few is- sues where President Obama and Pope Francis align and other areas where they disagree.
THEY AGREE ON CLI- MATE CHANGE. In June, Pope Francis released an encyclical which urged the world to take action on cli- mate change, which he said is mostly man-made.
“Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods,” he wrote. “It repre- sents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.”
The President praised the Pope’s encyclical, saying he “deeply” admired “the Pope’s decision to make the case – clearly, powerfully, and with the full moral au- thority of his position – for action on global climate change.”
THEY DISAGREE ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. That same month, Presi- dent Obama hailed the Supreme Court’s ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, calling it a “victory for Amer- ica.”
While this was a significant change in the U. S., Pope Francis and the Catholic Church still disapprove of marriage between same-sex couples. But Pope Francis has also struck a more ac- cepting tone on homosexual- ity than his predecessors.
“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” the Pope said in 2013.
THEY AGREE ON CUBA. Pope Francis and President Obama are on
President Obama shares a laugh with Pope Francis.
The First Lady and First Daughters meet Pope Francis after he arrives in the U.S.
First Daughters greet Pope Francis after he arrives in the U.S.
President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster for the fourth most destructive wildfire in Califor- nia's history, a blaze that has forced some 12,000 people to evacuate their homes and caused at least three deaths.
The President signed the declaration Tuesday to release federal funding to help with the Valley Fire, which has been burning north of San Francisco since September 12.
The assistance includes grants for temporary housing, home repairs and uninsured- property losses, according to a White House statement.
The fire, which broke out 90 miles north of San Fran- cisco, in Lake County, has burned more than 76,000 acres and destroyed almost 2,000 buildings. It was 79
percent contained as of Tues- day night, according to Cal Fire.
More than 3,000 firefight- ers are attempting to tackle the blaze, at least three people have been killed, and four fire- fighters have been injured.
President Obama's dec- laration came after a request from California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday, who asked for federal assistance with the Valley Fire and the Butte Fire, which has been burning east of San Francisco since September 9 and has killed two people.
Brown, who has declared states of emergency for both fires, said the Valley Fire was the fourth most destructive fire in the state's history and the Butte Fire was the 12th most destructive.
Senate Democratic Leaders Introduce Measures To Support
the same page when it comes to Cuba. In fact, Pope Fran- cis was the most important player in the White House’s efforts to normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba.
In 2014, the Pope wrote secret letters urging Presi- dent Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro to restore ties between their two countries and advocated for the release of Alan Gross, the U. S. citizen held in Cuba for five years until his release in 2014.
“I want to thank His Holi- ness Pope Francis, whose moral example shows us the importance of pursuing the world as it should be, rather than simply settling for the world as it is,” President Obama said last year as he
announced the U. S. and Cuba would normalize rela- tions.
THEY DISAGREE ON ABORTION. President Obama and Pope Francis will likely never see eye to eye when it comes to abortion. The president has adamantly advocated for a woman’s right to choose, saying he’s “deeply committed to pro- tecting this core constitu- tional right.”
Pope Francis and the Catholic Church oppose abor- tion, saying it is important to protect the sanctity of life and the unborn. But earlier this month, Pope Francis said all priests are able to absolve women seeking forgiveness for the “sin of abortion” if they have a ‘contrite heart’.
Senate Democratic leaders on Tuesday introduced a measure intended to signal their support of President Obama’s aggressive climate change agenda to 2016 voters and to the rest of the world.
The Democrats hope that the bill, sponsored by Sena- tor Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top Democ- rat on the Senate Energy Committee, will demonstrate a new unity for the party on energy and climate change, and define Democrats’ ap- proach to global warming pol- icy in the coming years.
The measure would estab- lish a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2 percent each year through 2025 — a cut even larger than the target set by the Obama adminis- tration — as United States pol- icy.
The bill has no chance of passage in the Republican- controlled Congress, but De- mocrats say they believe that forcefully pushing for climate change policies could help them win control of the Senate in 2016. And if they regain the majority, they will move to enact climate legislation along the lines of the Cantwell bill.
Senate Democrats timed the release of the bill to coin- cide with a push this week at the United Nations General
TECO’s Big Bend Plant in Apollo Beach near heavily populated Riverview is the largest Power Station. Big Bend is predominantly a coal-fired plant with some oil-fired peaking capacity. TECO was recently sold to Canadian based Emera.
Assembly toward reaching a sweeping climate accord this fall at a summit meeting in Paris. They hope to indicate to world leaders that despite Re- publican opposition to the plan, they stand ready to back Mr. Obama’s policies.
The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republi- can of Kentucky, has opened an all-fronts campaign to block the president’s climate initiatives. Mr. McConnell has sought to undercut Mr. Obama’s efforts to enact tough new regulations on greenhouse gas pollution and his bid to forge the global cli- mate change pact in Paris.
President’s Climate Change Agenda
President Obama News
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