Pope Francis is speaking as a pastor with a deep respect for science, and not as a policy maker, in his environmental encyclical released Thursday, two prominent U.S. Catholic bishops said at a press conference Thursday.
“He speaks as a pastor, offering moral guidance. He’s not offering a set of policy proposals,” Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl said of the papal document at a press conference in Washington.
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., president of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, said the pope is writing only as person of faith looking to bring forth meaningful action. Kurtz said Pope Francis is “speaking with a pastor’s voice and a deep respect for the role of science.”
The pope’s much-anticipated environmental encyclical, called “Lodato Si,” calls on governments and world leaders to act quickly to combat climate change. In it, Francis decries greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels and writes there is a “scientific consensus” of their negative effects on the environment.
Wuerl said the pope knows that science is a “domain of its own,” but respects its meaning to the environment. The pope’s use of science in the encyclical gives the document credibility and strength, Wuerl said.
“It saves the encyclical from being dismissed as abstract idea,” he said.
The two bishops said the encyclical, which calls on world leaders to enact change but does not make specific policy recommendations, is not a blueprint for political action.
However, the document intends to influence the United Nations climate negotiations that are set to start at the end of November in Paris.
“There are no directives being given to politicians, [or] people in the economic world,” Wuerl said. “It’s an invitation to take a look at the situation.”
Kurtz said the pope is looking to provide a moral framework to the powerful agents of change in the political and economic worlds. “He’s asking for a critique from the inside.”
Both bishops said the encyclical follows long-standing Catholic tradition of caring for the Earth and its environment.
Kurtz called the Earth a “great gift” from God and said the pope’s encyclical follows the Catholic tradition of seeking the “common good.” He said the document has a simple and central message: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after [us].”
