Authors /
Michael Pasquier
Michael Pasquier is associate professor of religious studies and history at Louisiana State University. He is the producer of the documentary Water Like Stone, editor of Gods of the Mississippi, and author of Fathers on the Frontier.
Why Gulf Coast Catholics aren't looking to the pope on climate change
When Pope Francis thinks of climate change, he thinks of social justice. In his 2013 inaugural homily as pope, Francis implored “all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political, and social life” to “be ‘protectors’ of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.” Speaking at an Italian university a year later, Francis announced, “This is our sin, exploiting the Earth and not allowing her to give us what she has within her.” In 2015, Vatican-watchers expect Francis to produce an encyclical that situates climate change within the framework of Catholic social teaching.
Francis’s position on the injustices of climate change is not new to the Roman Catholic Church.
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