As part of our commitment to revealing the Koch brothers’ shady political tactics, today, Bridge Project released a new report entitled, “Kochs Vs. The Pope.” Even before Pope Francis issued his encyclical, the pope’s calls for action against man-made climate change spurred attacks from the Koch brothers and their Republican loyalists, including presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Rick Santorum. The Kochs and their political cronies will continue to attack the pope in hopes of — what else — protecting their profits.
Check out the attacks launched against the Catholic leader that Real Koch Facts has exposed below:
The pope is picking sides in the climate change debate, and the Koch brothers are terrified about what it means for what they worship most: their bottom line. Recently, the pope has become a beacon of hope for climate change activists. As the New York Times reports, the pope is calling for Catholics and world leaders to take action on human-caused global warming. Unsurprisingly, the Koch brothers aren’t too happy whenever anyone, much less such a prominent figure, wants to take steps that would hurt their profits.
Last year, Pope Francis gave a statement asking for “the rich to help the poor, to respect them, to promote them.” The Kochs have a long history of doing just the opposite, but don’t tell John and Carol Saeman. The prominent Catholics and contributors to Koch-backed Freedom Partners co-authored a Washington Post op-ed where they said that Pope Francis’s call had inspired them to support the Koch brothers’ “nonprofit community.” However, many Catholics believe that the Koch agenda goes against church teachings and the backlash from the community was swift.
The Koch brothers are doubling down on their offense against Pope Francis’ efforts to curb the effects of climate change. Earlier this week, the Kochs lashed out at the pope’s stance and spouted misleading rhetoric and junk science. A Koch-funded think-tank, the Heartland Institute, today continued to attack the pope for working with world leaders and the United Nations on climate change in a American Spectator post entitled, “Francis is Out of His Element.” Their case boils down to protecting oil billionaires so they can drill for fossil fuels at faster rates…sound familiar?
The Kochs won’t be too excited about Pope Francis’ latest advocacy issue. The pope is now unequivocally supporting equal pay — one of the brothers’ most loathed ideals. The religious leader called the wage gap between men and women “pure scandal” in a speech Wednesday. “Why is it taken for granted that women must earn less than men? No! They have the same rights. The discrepancy is a pure scandal,” said Francis.
The Church is fighting back against Koch attacks on climate change. In an interview with Life Site News, Vatican Prelate Sánchez Sorondo called out self-serving fossil fuel tycoons for criticizing the Church’s efforts to combat the effects of climate change. In response to the pope’s call to action on Catholics and world leaders, the Kochs are using their dark money and conservative cronies to derail the Holy Father’s work to protect the environment. The Koch brothers will stop at nothing to protect their profits. Last month, the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based think-tank that is backed by the Kochs, went to Rome to protest the Vatican’s action on climate change.