On November 13, 2007, His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew delivered a video-taped speech on the energy crisis to the 20th World Energy Congress in Rome, Italy. [Watch the video]

The World Energy Council (WEC) is the foremost global multi-energy organization in the world today. The WEC has Member Committees in over 90 countries including most of the largest energy-producing and energy consuming countries. The 80 year-old organization covers all types of energy, including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, and renewables, and is U.N. accredited, non-governmental, non-commercial, and non-aligned.

According to the ADNkronos International web site, His All Holiness delivered his speech, saying, “The energy crisis of our age is not primarily an ecological or economical matter, it is a spiritual crisis concerning the way we perceive our planet’s resources.”

“The proper development and distribution of the energy resources of our planet is clearly one of the most critical and urgent problem facing our world.”

“We are obliged to review our ways radically, something which is called repentance, debating economic issues of both the industrialized and developing countries and seeking ways for a sustainable use of energy resources to the benefit of the entire world.”

[Read the Ecumenical Patriarch’s message to the World Energy Congress]