The Popes highly anticipated papal encyclical was delivered yesterday with a stern position on where the church stands on climate change. He also discusses who should be responsible as we lead the way away from fossil fuels. A draft version of the encyclical was leaked to an Italian magazine earlier this week and a lot of backlash ensued, you can see our article on it here.

While papal encyclicals are usually made from St. Peters square and addressed to the 1.2 billion roman catholics across the world. However Pope Francis wanted to address the whole world in this statement saying:

“I would like to enter a dialogue with all people about our common home”

The Pope went on to condemn not only the people who actively destroy the planet but also those who are complacent in the activities, those who are caught up in the compulsive consumerism and heedless worship of technology; I would be included in his criticism. Pope Francis echo the sentiments of his predecessor Benedict who pleaded for a dialogue in regards to climate change with his address. Not only this but Pope Francis made clear that what is happening to the earth is a moral issue, discussing how it disproportionately effects the poor as they are continually shunted to the bottom of the worlds problems and “frequently remain on the bottom of the pile”, but also about what we are doing to the planet as a whole. In the beginning few paragraphs of the encyclical it says:

“For human beings… to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation; for human beings to degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the earth of its natural forests or destroying its wetlands; for human beings to contaminate the earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life – these are sins”.

This address given by the Pope comes before a session that is scheduled to happen in September as he travels to the United States to meet the US Congress as well as the United Nations General Assembly. A United Nations climate change conference will also be taking place at the end of November. It comes a number of months before these events take place so it will be interesting to see how the issues raised by the Pope in this encyclical will be addressed or ignored. For more you can read the entire encyclical here.