Abstract
In June 2015, the Vatican released Laudato Si’, the first papal encyclical focused on environmental issues. Then, in a speech during the United Nations’ (UN’s) Seventieth Anniversary Celebration in September 2015, the pope warned against “a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity.” He went on to proclaim that “Any harm done to the environment, therefore, is harm done to humanity.” The timings of these developments are significant as both were ahead of the September 2015 adoption of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the December 2015 Climate Conference in Paris. This chapter examines Pope Francis as a policy entrepreneur whose language and timing both influences the framing of the climate change debate and creates moral implications surrounding environmental neglect. Building on work from social movement theory, the chapter provides an analysis on the confluence of Pope Francis’s ethical framework and his policy activism. Pope Francis’s engagement with the UN system is presented as a case study. Overall, the chapter examines the impact of the “Francis Factor” on discourse, public opinion, and global policy formation surrounding climate change.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Romans 8: 22
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Notes
- 1.
Pope Francis, “Meeting with the Members of the General Assembly of the United Nations: Address of the Holy Father,” September 25, 2015, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/september/documents/papa-francesco_20150925_onu-visita.html
- 2.
Bruce Jones and Adele Morris, “Understanding COP21 and Beyond the Paris Agreement,” Brookings Report 21(2015), http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/planetpolicy/posts/2015/12/14-cop21-beyond-the-paris-agreement-jones-morris; Roger Harrabin, “COP21: Did the Pope Save the Climate Deal?,” BBC News, December 13, 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35087220
- 3.
For the purposes of this work, an ethical framework is defined as matters relating to good and evil or right and wrong or a system of ideas about correct behaviors, whereas public ethics refer to standards of conduct and decision-making rules for the greater good.
- 4.
It is important to point out that there is not complete alignment on global policy positions between the Holy See and the UN . The issue of family planning is one of several areas that the two global actors find significant disagreement. There are issue areas where the Holy See is viewed as a conservative actor within the UN system.
- 5.
Michael Moran, “The Pope’s Divisions,” Council on Foreign Relations, February 3, 2006, http://www.cfr.org/religion/popes-divisions/p9765
- 6.
This was also evident in his remarks concerning then presidential candidate Donald Trump and immigration in 2016.
- 7.
John W. Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policy (New York: Harper Collins, 1984), 188.
- 8.
William Jacoby, “Issue Framing and Public Opinion on Government Spending,” American Journal of Political Science 44, no. 4 (2000): 763.
- 9.
Stoyan Zaimov, “Pope Francis Warns: If We Destroy Creation, It Will Destroy Us,” Christian Post Reporter, May 21, 2014, http://www.christianpost.com/news/pope-francis-warns-if-we-destroy-creation-it-will-destroy-us-120159/
- 10.
“Pope Francis’ Homily for His Inaugural Mass,” March 19, 2013, http://www.catholicworldreport.com/2013/03/19/full-text-pope-francis-homily-for-his-inaugural-mass/
- 11.
Francis, “Message of His Holiness Francis for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace,” 2014, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/peace/documents/papa-francesco_20131208_messaggio-xlvii-giornata-mondiale-pace-2014.html
- 12.
John Vidal, “Pope Francis’s Edict on Climate Change Will Anger Deniers and US Churches,” The Guardian December 27, 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/27/pope-francis-edict-climate-change-us-rightwing
- 13.
Juan Carlos Scannone , S.J., “Pope Francis and the Theology of the People,” Theological Studies 77, no. 1 (2016).
- 14.
“Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens,” May 14, 1971, 416–17.
- 15.
“Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis,” March 4, 1979, 287.
- 16.
Benedict XVI, “Address to the Diplomatic Corps Accredited to the Holy See,” January 8, 2007.
- 17.
Benedict XVI, “Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate,” (2009).
- 18.
Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home (Rome: The Holy See, 2015).
- 19.
“Meeting with the Members of the General Assembly of the United Nations: Address of the Holy Father,” http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/september/documents/papa-francesco_20150925_onu-visita.html
- 20.
Francis, Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home, para. 52.
- 21.
Ibid.
- 22.
Christopher Borick, Barry G. Rabe, and Sarah B. Mills, “Acceptance of Global Warming among Americans Reaches Highest Level since 2008,” Issues in Energy and Environmental Policy 25 (October 2015), http://closup.umich.edu/issues-in-energy-and-environmental-policy/25/acceptance-of-global-warming-among-americans-reaches-highest-level-since-2008/
- 23.
Ezra Markowitz, “Why Few Americans View Climate Change as a Moral Problem,” Big Think, 2015, http://bigthink.com/age-of-engagement/why-few-americans-view-climate-change-as-a-moral-problem
- 24.
Ibid.
- 25.
Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home, para. 49.
- 26.
Neva Frecheville, “The Sustainable Development Goals and Laudato Si’.” Serpents and Doves, September 17, 2015, https://cafodpolicy.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/the-sustainable-development-goals-and-laudato-si/
- 27.
“Speech at the White House,” The Washington Post, September 23, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/text-of-pope-franciss-speech-at-the-white-house/2015/09/23/27c70d74-61fb-11e5-9757-e49273f05f65_story.html?utm_term=.809623f3debc
- 28.
Edward Maibach, Anthony Leiserowitz, Connie Roser-Renouf, Teresa Myers, Seth Rosenthaul, and Geoff Feinburg, “The Francis Effect: How Pope Francis Changed the Conversation About Global Warming” (George Mason University and Yale University: Center for Climate Change Communication, 2015).
- 29.
Vidal, “Pope Francis’s Edict on Climate Change Will Anger Deniers and US Churches.”
- 30.
Alice Philipson, “Pope Appeals to Non-Catholics to Heed His Climate Change Warning,” The Telegraph, June 14, 2015, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/the-pope/11674199/Pope-appeals-to-non-Catholics-to-heed-his-climate-change-warning.html
- 31.
Borick, Rabe, and Mills, “Acceptance of Global Warming among Americans Reaches Highest Level since 2008.”
- 32.
“In U.S., Pope’s Popularity Continues to Grow,” Pew Research Center , March 16, 2015, http://www.pewforum.org/2015/03/05/in-u-s-popes-popularity-continues-to-grow/
- 33.
Maibach et al., “The Francis Effect: Hope Pope Francis Changed the Conversation About Global Warming,” 5.
- 34.
Dan Schaefer, “The Francis Effect = +10–20% on Climate Change,” Dan Schaefer’s Blog, November 14, 2015, http://www.danshaferblog.com/the-francis-effect-10-20-on-climate-change/
- 35.
Maibach et al., “The Francis Effect: Hope Pope Francis Changed the Conversation About Global Warming,” 5.
- 36.
Nan Li, Joseph Hilgard, Dietram A. Scheufele, Kenneth M. Winneg, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, “Cross-Pressuring Conservative Catholics? Effects of Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the U.S. Public Opinion on Climate Change,” Climatic Change 139, no. 3 (2016), http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-016-1821-z
- 37.
Ibid., 377.
- 38.
Borick, Rabe, and Mills, “Acceptance of Global Warming among Americans Reaches Highest Level since 2008.”
- 39.
Father Roger Landry, Holy See representative at the United Nations, personal interview with the author, April 10, 2017.
- 40.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner, “Catholic Church Calls on UN Climate Change Conference to Set Goals,” The Guardian, October 26, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/26/catholic-church-un-agree-climate-change-goals
- 41.
“Pope Francis Says Failure of Climate Summit Would Be Catastrophic,” The Guardian, November 26, 2015,, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/26/pope-francis-says-failure-of-climate-summit-would-be-catastrophic
- 42.
Coral Davenport, “The Marshall Islands Are Disappearing,” New York Times , December 1, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/02/world/The-Marshall-Islands-Are-Disappearing.html?_r=0
- 43.
Ben Brumfield and Michael Pearson, “COPp21 Climate Change Summit: ‘Never Have the Stakes Been So High,’” CNN, November 30, 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/30/europe/france-paris-cop21-climate-change-conference/
- 44.
Shawn Donnan and James Politi, “Pope Francis Calls for End to ‘Boundless Thirst for Power,’” Financial Times, 2015, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cc6fb9bc-638f-11e5-9846-de406ccb37f2.html
- 45.
Father Roger Landry, representative of Holy See’s delegation at the United Nations, personal interview with the author, April 10, 2017.
- 46.
Harrabin, “COP21: Did the Pope Save the Climate Deal?”
- 47.
Jones and Morris, “Understanding COP21 and Beyond the Paris Agreement.”
- 48.
“Pope Francis Releases Encyclical on Climate and Environment: UN Leaders React,” 2015, http://newsroom.unfccc.int/unfccc-newsroom/pope-francis-releases-encyclical-on-climate-and-environment/
- 49.
Vatican Radio, “Role of Pope Francis ‘Transformative’ at Paris COP21 Climate Summit,” November 12, 2015, http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/12/11/pope_francis_transformative_at_paris_climate_summit/1193598
- 50.
Ibid.
- 51.
Nicole Winfield, “Paris Accords: Angela Merkel Says Pope Francis Encouraged Her to Preserve Climate Change Agreement,” The Independent, June 18, 2017, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/angela-merkel-pope-francis-encourage-paris-accords-germany-g20-donald-trump-a7795466.html
- 52.
Scannone , “Pope Francis and the Theology of the People,” 119.
- 53.
Ed Stourton, “Is the Pope a Communist?,” BBC News, June 7, 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33024951
- 54.
Rebecca Leber, “Climate Deniers Say Nope to ‘Red Pope,’” New Republic, June 17, 2015, https://newrepublic.com/article/122052/climate-deniers-say-nope-red-pope
- 55.
Victor Davis Hanson, “Papal Burnout,” Washington Times, September 30, 2015, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/30/victor-davis-hanson-pope-francis-too-political/
- 56.
Alynna J. Lyon, US Politics and the United Nations: A Tale of Dysfunctional Dynamics (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner 2016).
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Lyon, A.J. (2018). Pope Francis as a Global Policy Entrepreneur: Moral Authority and Climate Change. In: Lyon, A., Gustafson, C., Manuel, P. (eds) Pope Francis as a Global Actor. Palgrave Studies in Religion, Politics, and Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71377-9_7
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