Pope Francis is set to make the environment and global climate policy the centerpiece of his upcoming encyclical this summer, alarming American conservatives, as he seeks to highlight how global climate change affects the world’s poor.
Central to Francis’ climate change push will be a summit on Tuesday at the Vatican were church officials will attempt to build awareness and momentum for a sweeping climate change accord to be enacted at a United Nations’ session in Paris this December. The accord would commit every member nation to put in place new measures to cut global emissions.
In the United States a campaign on behalf of the Vatican will precede the Pope’s encyclical which will include American bishops raising the issue of climate change through sermons, media interviews and homilies. The Pope himself is expected to press the issue directly when he addresses the Congress in September.
While many see the Pope’s actions as instrumental in highlighting the associations between poverty and global climate change, not everyone is pleased. Echoing many American conservatives’ anger at the Pope’s actions, Joseph Bast, President of the Koch brothers funded libertarian group The Heartland Institute, said in a statement, “Though Pope Francis’ heart is surely in the right place, he would do his flock and the world a disservice by putting his moral authority behind the United Nations’ unscientific agenda on the climate.”
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