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October 14, 2023

A recent teaching document issued by Pope Francis, Laudate Deum (Praise God) has been aggressively promoted by the media for its focus on climate change, especially for the Pope’s criticism of the western world’s heavier energy use and alleged contributions to global warming. Pope Francis says extreme weather is worsening, but respectfully, the Holy Father is wrong.

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He is also mistaken in his solutions, namely an energy transition, global deprioritization of economic growth, and the implied need to sacrifice the western standard of living. These will not only fail to stop climate change, but will lead to further human and ecological suffering. He’s not wrong about everything though, so read on.

Pope Francis has always emphasized humans’ responsibility to the environment; the name he took — Francis — is in reference to Saint Francis of Assisi, who was known for having a special connection to animals. It is no surprise that he has published two encyclicals on this topic, which to be clear, is something that concerns the religious and nonreligious alike. Scientific matters are also moral matters, especially when possible negative effects are widespread, like when Pope John Paul II addressed nuclear war.

Laudate Deum is the second environment-focused encyclical issued by Pope Francis, and compared to the first, Laudato Si, has its primary focus on the issue of climate change. It also was written in much stronger language, highlighting the lack of “progress” in advancing the goals of the numerous U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) conferences.

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Pope Francis is incorrect that extreme weather is getting worse, and he’s wrong about other alleged problems caused by climate change, which would require an entire book to debunk individually.

While there may be the appearance of more frequent weather disasters around the globe, this is actually an artifact of media coverage and focus, and our ability to instantly obtain news from everywhere in the world 24 hours a day.

The IPCC itself has essentially come to the same conclusion of a recent study, which found that “on the basis of observational data, the climate crisis that, according to many sources, we are experiencing today, is not evident yet.” The IPCC says there is low scientific confidence in the existence of any visible trends in the form of most weather extremes that alarmists frequently cite as evidence.

Even better news is that human casualties due to climate-related disasters like floods and extreme temperatures have been declining worldwide.

The reason why these deaths are declining, of course, is because of improvements and expanded access to emergency services, infrastructure, electricity, indoor climate control, and other developments — all of which come thanks to our continued use of fossil fuels.

This brings us to the next point of concern, which is Pope Francis’ criticisms of the Western lifestyle and heavy energy and fossil fuel use.