Pope Francis focused on climate change as the planet continued to get hotter
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Pope Francis made what he called the climate crisis a recurring theme during his papacy. He was the first pope to take the name of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology. NPR’s Jeff Brady looks at Francis’ climate legacy.
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, or papal letter, on human-caused climate change did not mince words. Quote, “the Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.” That September, the pope was in the United States and delivered a message of urgent action with then-President Barack Obama.
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POPE FRANCIS: Climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation.
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DETROW: Francis’ climate encyclical was called in Latin “Laudato Si’,” or praise be to you. It laid out how humans are changing the climate. It called on rich countries to help poorer ones and inspired new organizations to form, including the Global Catholic Climate Movement. Rebecca Elliott is with the group now called Laudato Si’ Movement.
REBECCA ELLIOTT: All around the world, you saw all of these people reading the encyclical, writing letters to the editor, posting on social media, forming discussion groups in their parishes.
BRADY: Elliott says her group trained about 20,000 people in 140 countries to organize tree plantings, litter clean-ups and marches for new climate policies. She says Latin America has been active. Pope Francis was born in Argentina. Elliott says bishops in Ecuador successfully campaigned for a 2023 vote to block drilling in the Amazon rainforest.
ELLIOTT: And the Catholic Church stood alongside Indigenous leaders, young people and others to support the referendum to stop oil extraction in Yasuni National Park.
BRADY: Elliott says now bishops in Brazil are teaching parishioners about climate change ahead of the next United Nations Climate Conference, happening there in November. In recent years, climate messages from scientists have become more urgent. Pope Francis’ words have matched that. In 2023, he issued another papal letter.
CHRISTIANA ZENNER: He is evidently annoyed that much of humanity seems to have missed the message.
BRADY: Fordham University theology professor Christiana Zenner says Francis included more science and outlined the problem more succinctly, like a professor whose students didn’t get the lesson the first time. Researchers, such as Asheley Landrum at Arizona State University, have studied whether Francis’ climate messages changed opinions.
ASHELEY LANDRUM: What we found was the pope did not change people’s minds about climate change. The pope changed people’s minds about himself.
BRADY: She says he was mostly preaching to the converted. Politically liberal people loved Pope Francis’ climate messages, while conservatives — even conservative Catholics — were not swayed. Still, Landrum says he did plant a flag by showing that acting on climate change is consistent with socially conservative Catholic values. Zenner, the Fordham professor, thinks Francis’ work on climate will have a lasting effect on the Catholic Church.
ZENNER: I think the Catholic Church now has to be seen as an entity that is concerned about care for creation and people’s faith lives. I don’t think that can be erased.
BRADY: Around the world, more than 8,000 families, schools, groups, dioceses and other organizations have pledged to take actions in response to Francis’ climate encyclical. Now, researchers will watch to see how much attention a new pope gives to the problem of human-caused climate change. Jeff Brady, NPR News.
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