When the Vatican lit up St. Peter's Basilica with a colorful slideshow on the environment, reactions swelled like the rising oceans. And the Religion News Service aptly covered extremes of anger and delight, including various shades in between.

Up to a point, at least. RNS added a shade or two of commentary that was all its own.

The context was the opening of Pope Francis' Jubilee Year of Mercy, a time for the faithful to rededicate themselves to lives of charity, devotion and reconciliation. They can also gain "indulgences," for the forgiveness of sins, by passing through designated Holy Doors at all cathedrals worldwide -- including St. Peter's, which Francis opened on Tuesday.

That night also saw Fiat Lux: Illuminating Our Common Home, a dazzling light-and-sound show with landscapes and animals projected onto the façade of the Catholic Church's mother church. As RNS observes, the three-hour show was aimed also at publicizing, once again, Laudato Si', Francis' encyclical last June on caring for the environment, just as world leaders were meeting in Paris to discuss climate change.

But objections to Fiat Lux were often fierce, as RNS reports:

"This has gone beyond ridiculous," fumed a conservative blogger, the Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, who called it "irreverent" to use a sacred space for a secular purpose. "Why not rent out the Sistine chapel too, while they’re at it?"

"The Vatican profaned," Antonio Socci wrote at the traditionalist blog Rorate Caeli. "The symbolic significance of the event is a Church immersed in darkness, but illuminated by the world, by the new climatist-religion-ideology."

"Sickening" and "embarrassing" were among the reactions on a Twitter thread started by Raymond Arroyo, a popular host on the conservative Catholic cable network EWTN. "Someone should be fired for this. Actually, several people should be," wrote another.

RNS goes beyond mere slings and arrows, classifying the types of objections and looking up answers as well. Among those objections (the summaries are mine):