Pope Francis has once again weighed in on climate change—this time condemning climate deniers and lambasting “irresponsible” Western lifestyles that contribute to carbon emissions.
In a 7,000-word letter issued Wednesday—a format known in the Catholic Church as a papal encyclical—Francis used stark language to lay out the current state of the climate crisis and implore world leaders to phase out fossil fuels, footnoting his arguments with reports from the IPCC and NOAA.
The encyclical, titled “Laudate Deum” (“Praise God”), is a follow-up to “Laudato Si” (“Praise Be”), the 2015 encyclical where Francis first laid out his views on climate change and the urgent need for action.
“Once and for all, let us put an end to the irresponsible derision that would present this issue as something purely ecological, ‘green,’, romantic, frequently subject to ridicule by economic interests,” Francis writes in the latest text. “Let us finally admit that it is a human and social problem on any number of levels.”
(AP, New York Times $, CNN,)