“Despite all attempts to deny, conceal, gloss over or relativize the issue,” Pope Francis writes in his apostolic exhortation “Laudate Deum,” “the signs of climate change are here and increasingly evident.”
Throughout the document, released last month, his language points to the urgency to address the climate crisis and safeguard the health and wellbeing of ourselves and our children. He states what we know to be true: “the necessary transition towards clean energy sources such as wind and solar energy, and the abandonment of fossil fuels, is not progressing at the necessary speed.”
But Pope Francis is not content to simply articulate the problem. He is a man of action, and has announced that he will be traveling to Dubai for the 28th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference — commonly referred to as COP28. As the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide, his presence will underscore the moral and ethical imperative to stabilize the climate and secure a safer world.
One reason why Pope Francis is a compelling messenger is that he is clear about the interconnectedness of social and environmental issues. In “Laudate Deum,” he quotes the U.S. bishops saying, “Our care for one another and our care for the earth are intimately bound together.” Over the past several years, we have seen more and more lives devastated by wildfires, hurricanes and other extreme weather events. Air and water pollution endanger the safety of all of us, but especially people of color, as evidenced by Flint’s water crisis and Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.”
I am a Catholic priest, and I believe that each person is created in the image of God, and that everyone deserves access to a clean and healthy environment.
I praise Pope Francis’s moral conviction, and I also admire his political leadership. Here we have a leader boldly deciding to go to Dubai without consulting focus groups or fearing potential reactions in the media. He is modeling how a political leader should act: with assurance, but also with the humility to prioritize the most vulnerable. He is focused on the ethic of the common good, something sorely lacking in our politics, which attempts to divide the world into opposing camps.
Fundamentally, Pope Francis is working to redistribute power in the Church and in society. He has been criticized for attempting to open up spaces for lay leaders — especially women — to be included in decisionmaking in the Church. Shared power is also crucial in the fight against climate change, something Francis states in “Laudate Deum”: “unless citizens control political power — national, regional and municipal — it will not be possible to control damage to the environment.”
Our times demand new ways of approaching morality. We can no longer compartmentalize and individualize our moral concerns. I lead the largest national organization of priests, the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests, and we believe it is time for clergy to see ministry as inseparable from love of neighbor, which includes protection of the environment that we all share.
In his decision to attend COP28, Pope Francis has lent his influence on one of the most pressing concerns of our time. It is my hope that national leaders everywhere follow his example, including President Joe Biden, himself a practicing Catholic. President Biden could cut pollution immediately if his Environmental Protection Agency would finalize strong rules on methane, soot pollution, heavy-duty vehicles and carbon pollution from power plants, positions that the U.S. bishops and other faith leaders support.
It all comes down to a choice for every person with substantial power — a choice between a long-term legacy of which they can be proud and an immediate political calculation.
Pope Francis poses this sharp question: “What would induce anyone, at this stage, to hold on to power, only to be remembered for their inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so?”
Reverend Stephen P. Newton, CSC is the executive director of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests.