The Vatican is behind a new attack on the poor—this time an attack on nuclear power development. As in the case of the COP21 agreement—for which Pope Francis had effusive praise—it is done in the name of the poor. The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), through its Justice and Peace Commission, has called on the South African government to suspend its nuclear build of 9600 MW and concentrate on “renewable energy,” in a Dec. 29 statement.

The parent body of the SACBC Justice and Peace Commission, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, in Rome, is headed by Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, a contributor to, and advocate for the papal encyclical Laudato Si’. The SACBC Justice and Peace Commission would not have acted without approval—explicit or implicit—from Rome.

Because the Vatican has accepted the falsified science and perverse logic of the British oligarchy, as to what is in the interests of the poor, the SACBC initiative may herald a broad mobilization of the Vatican against nuclear power.

The Dec. 29 statement signed by Bishop Abel Gabuza, Chairman of the Justice and Peace Commission, declares that “the economic risks and safety risks of the nuclear option outweigh its economic benefits, and the government should therefore concentrate its efforts and fiscal resources on renewable energy. …. The Commission has therefore appealed to the government to urgently call for a nuclear referendum.”

But no developing country has a future without charting a course of continual advances in science and technology, including nuclear: Much of Africa, including South Africa, will have no source of baseload electric power (that includes hydroelectric) commensurate with the need, when coal runs out, without nuclear. The Vatican must know that the boutique “renewable” sources that the SACBC statement calls upon the government to rely on, such as wind and solar, will never be baseload sources. Has the Vatican confused the two meanings of “pastoral”?

Dr. Kelvin Kemm, CEO of Nuclear Africa, in Pretoria, told EIR Dec. 31, “There will be no referendum.” Kemm reports a broad agreement in South Africa in favor of the nuclear build, in government and banking, and among energy producers and engineers.

Kemm pointed to the double standards in economic judgment used by the SACBC and others. “In cases of national necessity, you don’t ask, ‘Can we afford it?'” he said. “When Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Britain declared war on Nazi Germany two days later. But no one in Britain said, ‘Oh, wait, we have to check our budgetary limitations!'” Similarly, he said, it is widely known that providing abundant, cheap electricity is a stimulus to development. One doesn’t wait to build nuclear plants until someone’s projections say it is needed. Yet these are the false standards—”South Africa can’t afford it” and “South doesn’t need it yet”—in this and earlier SACBC documents.

“Other developing countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and Ecuador,” Kemm added, “are looking to South Africa’s nuclear program as a flagship program and as a source of expertise—expertise relevant to building nuclear in a developing country—that they can draw on.”

The SACBC knew, or should have known, that its statement is an attack on the poor which, if implemented, will cost countless lives. The SACBC office and some of the South African bishops were sent EIR‘s August 2015 study, “Costs of the Failure To Go Nuclear—Part 1,” as well as the September 2015 EIR Special Report, “‘Global Warming’ Scare Is Population Reduction, Not Science,” with its chapter on “Increasing Energy Flux-Density.” It has also had access to the work of Dr. Kemm and others. 

Saudia Arabia brought in the new year with a mass execution of 47 people on January 2. Most were claimed to have been al-Qaeda members, but also a prominent Shi’ite Muslim cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, was on the gruesome list according to a Saudi Interior Ministry statement broadcast on state television.

The execution of a Shi’a cleric drew strong responses from the Shi’a communities in Lebanon, Yemen, and of course Iran. In Bahrain, which has a large Shi’a population, there were demonstrations.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari accused Riyadh of hypocrisy. “The Saudi government supports terrorists and takfiri [radical Sunni] extremists, while executing and suppressing critics inside the country,” he said on Iranian state news agency according to the Guardian.

The Supreme Islamic Shi’a Council in Lebanon called the execution a “grave mistake” and Yemen’s Houthi movement called it “flagrant violation of human rights.”

Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told the Mehr news agency: “I have no doubt that this pure blood will stain the collar of the House of Saud and wipe them from the pages of history. The crime of executing Sheikh Nimr is part of a criminal pattern by this treacherous family … the Islamic world is expected to cry out and denounce this infamous regime as much as it can.”

The Saudi Interior Ministry statement  justified the executions by quoting from the Koran. Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh appeared on television soon after to describe the executions as just.

Starting the new year with 47 executions promises to make 2016 a record year. In all of 2015 there were 157 executions.