During his 12 years as the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis repeatedly raised the problem of human-caused global heating from burning fossil fuels, and he encouraged people — including world leaders — to do something about it.
In 2015, Francis issued a papal letter — or encyclical — titled Laudato Si'. It recognized climate change as a global problem with significant consequences, especially for the poor. He criticized developed countries, like the U.S. and China, which have contributed the most planet-heating pollution.
In a 2021 BBC broadcast before the U.N. climate meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, Francis mentioned climate change in a list of crises that included the COVID-19 pandemic and economic difficulties.
As NPR reported, "The pope called on the U.N. to take 'radical decisions' to safeguard the environment and to place global concerns over the interests of individual nations."
Then, in 2023, Pope Francis also revisited the topic of climate change with another major papal document Laudate Deum, which was about one-fifth the length of his more than 38,000-word Laudato Si' and focused directly on climate change.
Christiana Zenner, associate professor of theology, science and ethics at Fordham University, said Francis' climate advocacy will likely endure because he was focused on changing hearts as well as minds.
"I think that the Catholic Church now has to be seen as an entity that is concerned about care for creation and people's faith lives together. I don't think that can be erased," Zenner added.
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