The 'blunt, plain-spoken' climate action of Pope Francis
2 powerful papal documents pushed for deeper care of a planet in peril
Ocean acidification, atmospheric carbon concentrations and bioaccumulation of agrotoxins are, perhaps, what you'd expect in the writing of someone with a master's degree in chemistry.
But when that person is the Pope — writing official papal documents — the audience is much wider.
Climate, environmental and theology experts say the late Pope Francis leaves behind a strong legacy of pushing for protecting the planet, while weaving science and faith-based arguments to elevate the crisis of climate change to a new level.
Our common home
In 2015, two years into his papacy, Francis released his first major encyclical — a papal letter, outlining a Church position — called Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home. A sweeping, 180-plus page document, it appealed to "every person on the planet" in the face of "global environmental deterioration."
Alongside precedents in scripture about responsibilities toward the natural world, Francis — who noted his namesake, Francis of Assisi, was the patron saint of ecology — highlighted the complex physical Earth systems that were seeing a rapid pace of change driven by humanity.
"They were almost like a mini summary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports," described Katharine Hayhoe, Global Chief Scientist at Nature United and climate scientist with Texas Tech University.
She says his communication of science on climate change was crystal clear, along with the fact that it disproportionately affects some communities more than others — and that paved a moral pathway for climate action.
"And if we say that we take the tenets of our faith seriously … we cannot neglect our responsibility to care for nature or creation, and we cannot abdicate our responsibility to care for our sisters and our brothers," said Hayhoe of Francis's arguments in Laudato Si'.
"He draws our attention towards paying attention to those who are most on the margins, who are most impacted directly by this ecological crisis," said Anna Johnson, North American director of the Laudato Si' Movement, a Catholic organization that claims 20,000 community leaders in 140 countries, devoted to the cause laid out in Francis's encyclical.
Its timing, experts say, intentionally released in the months leading up to the COP21 climate talks in Paris, was influential.
"Pope Francis was actively engaging in diplomacy to ensure the Paris Agreement passed," Johnson told CBC News from Seattle, adding that "multiple leaders said from the stage in Paris as well as others have said that it was profoundly impactful" on negotiations.
'Silence' and another letter
The years that followed this full-throated plea for the planet were not met with what Francis considered an adequate response.
Dan DiLeo, a moral theologian at the Omaha-based Creighton University, researched the response of Catholic bishops in the United States and found a lack of action.
"We found overwhelming silence among the bishops," DiLeo described, "whose responsibility is to share and to communicate church teaching, that includes church doctrine." He adds that conservative Catholics in the U.S. favoured their political party's views on climate change over the messages from the Pope.
"Unfortunately, the reception of Laudato Si' broke along ideological and partisan lines," DiLeo remarked.
The lack of action and ambition around the world led to Francis releasing an exhortation — a shorter follow-up, Laudate Deum. In it, a biting criticism of international political failures to achieve action on climate as well as continued warnings over the dangers of climate denialism and misinformation.
"I remember reading that exhortation when it came out … on my phone. I felt like my phone was going to burst into flames," recalled Hayhoe, who co-authored the 2009 book, A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions.
"He did not mince any words. He was blunt. He was plain spoken. And it was such a refreshing change from how we're often so careful and so guarded when we talk about issues that matter."
A light left behind
While both these papal documents were extraordinary, DiLeo says they build on precedent set by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Knowing this is important, he says, as it prevents a misrepresentation.
"In my experience, if people perceive Laudato SI' as new, it can be … misframed as radical and therefore dismissible, as something that isn't really part of church doctrine."
Beyond the encyclical and exhortation, which were aimed globally, Francis also addressed more local climate considerations. Last June, he wrote to the administration of the Vatican to construct a solar farm that could one day power the city-state completely on renewable energy.
Experts say these climate-forward moves and messages from a faith leader like Pope Francis helped environmentally conscious people of all religions, allowing them to drive their values on the environment to action. As Hayhoe puts it, it can help link "head to heart to hands."
"It's a really powerful way to make those connections, in a way like Pope Francis did, that is authentic."
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