LEXINGTON, Kentucky (LifeSiteNews) — The heterodox, pro-LGBTQ Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky announced Tuesday that his diocese is pledging to reach net-zero carbon emissions across 59 parishes by 2030, citing the inspiration of Pope Francis.

“This is our gift to Pope Francis on his name day,” Stowe said during a diocesan press conference announcement, explaining that the presser was taking place not only the day after Earth Day but on the feast of St. George, who shares the name of Jorge Bergoglio.

Stowe first alluded to Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, in which the pontiff cited a “disturbing warming” of the climate as dangerous to the planet and claimed that most of this is caused by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide emitted “mainly” by human activity. He also blamed CO2 “pollution” for “compromis(ing)” ocean life.

As Christ Morrison of The Daily Sceptic pointed out, “The political fiction that humans cause most or all climate change and the claim that the science behind this notion is ‘settled’ has been dealt a savage blow by the publication of a “World Climate Declaration (WCD),” signed by over 1,100 scientists and professionals.”

Led by Professor Ivar Giaever, a Norwegian physics Nobel Prize laureate, the signatories declared emphatically that “There is No Climate Emergency,” stressing a few key points: That earth’s climate has always experienced natural cooling and warming phases; that “climate policy relies on inadequate models;” that “CO2 is plant food, the basis of all life on earth”; that warming is “far slower than predicted;” and that “climate policy must respect scientific and economic realities.”

“We strongly oppose the harmful and unrealistic net-zero CO2 policy proposed for 2050. Go for adaptation instead of mitigation,” the group concluded.

Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore has denounced such policies even more strongly, having warned last year that a global achievement of “Net Zero” carbon emissions would lead to “at least 50 percent of the population” dying. 

Campaign Life Coalition has also warned that cries of an impending “climate catastrophe” disguises a depopulation agenda, since globalists have signaled that they view overpopulation, and even “each new baby born,” as an environmental burden upon the planet.

Nevertheless, Bishop Stowe holds to the climate alarmist narrative of globalists, who frame global warming as an apocalyptic matter. He highlighted the fact that Francis likewise sees climate change as an urgent matter, noting that his Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum took a “different tone” than Laudato Si’.

“It was almost scolding in nature because not much has happened since 2015,” Stowe said Tuesday. “And, in fact, (Francis) points out that those who oppose the idea of working for the preservation of the planet — those who deny the reality of climate change — are having too much influence. He said we’re losing time. We have to begin to act.”

The bishop acknowledged that the area encompassed by his diocese, which spans 50 counties in eastern and central Kentucky, has traditionally depended on coal mining to sustain itself economically.

“But now, knowing what we know, we have to be committed to an economic conversion, to make sure that the jobs that are helping people get to work are ones that will protect and preserve our environment,” Stowe said. 

Other Catholic institutions have already begun to implement net-zero plans across the U.S., according to the National Catholic Reporter.  The Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis has begun a “Parish Net Zero Covenant” initiative, citing the Vatican’s own commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The Diocese of Davenport, Iowa has also launched a “Laudato Si’ Action Plan” to conform with the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Action Plan Platform, issued by the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development.

At least 20 U.S. dioceses, including the Diocese of Lexington, have thus far joined the platform, which was launched in 2021 and the goals of which include the “adoption of sustainable lifestyles,” promoting “ecological spirituality” (which could involve “creation-based liturgical ceremonies,” according to the platform website),  and a “response to the cry of the earth,” which encompasses carbon neutrality and the adoption of renewable energy.

While he enthusiastically champions climate change mitigation, Bishop Stowe flouts Catholic doctrine, particularly regarding homosexuality and transgenderism, which he has a long track record of embracing.

In 2017, two years after he was made a bishop by Pope Francis, Stowe spoke at a New Ways Ministry conference, even though the nominally Catholic group advocates for homosexual “marriage” and has been condemned by the Vatican and the U.S. bishops.

“Christian morality is more concerned with the well-being and dignity of the person than with rules, norms, or commandments. Jesus seems to teach this on many occasions,” the bishop claimed at the time.

In 2019, Stowe led an “LGBTQ retreat” at the University of Notre Dame, once a bastion of Catholicism in North America, and also issued a “prayer” card celebrating homosexual “pride.” The card featured an image of a crucifix with rainbow colors coming from it. It was produced to be distributed at pro-homosexual events.

Stowe is also one of several bishops who endorsed pro-homosexual Jesuit Father James Martin’s book on “the Catholic Church and the LGBT community.” 

After the Vatican issued Fiducia Supplicans, a priest in Stowe’s diocese was depicted blessing a lesbian couple.