The Holy See’s representative to the United Nations has touched on a couple of controversial and politically loaded topics in recent days: the environment and the war on terrorism.

On Monday, Archbishop Celestino Migliore called protecting the environment a “moral imperative” that “must not be sacrificed on the altar of economic development.” He noted that the poor typically suffer most from environmental damage: “Unable to do otherwise, they live in polluted lands, near toxic waste dumps, or squat in public lands and other people’s properties without any access to basic services.” This is a significant statement considering its source, since Vatican officials have often stressed a different (though not necessarily contradictory) point: that environmental protection should not take priority over improving conditions for the world’s poor.

Last Friday, Migliore said that governments must not cut legal corners even in the urgent cause of fighting terrorism: “The rule of law at times is difficult to apply to terrorists who have little or no respect for it. However, states must not engage in measures antithetical to the very principles that give them legitimacy through the rule of law.” We might take this as a warning against the use of torture in the interrogation of suspected terrorists, a particularly controversial topic in the States right now.

I suppose it’s only a coincidence that Migliore’s statement came a day after the presidential candidate Sen. John McCain invoked Catholic history in his denunciation of waterboarding, which he characterized as a form of torture. “All I can say is that it was used in the Spanish Inquisition,” McCain said. Apparently none of his rivals has so far accused him of religious bigotry.