Vale Pope Francis: A Legacy of Faith Over Facts

Pope Francis’s death marks the end of a papacy that boldly thrust the Catholic Church into climate change politics, most notably through his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’.

His fervent advocacy, framed as a moral imperative to save “our common home,” reshaped the Church’s role in global debates, and at a cost. By leaning on institutional authorities like the IPCC, Francis blurred the once sacred line between religion and science, a divide the Church had respected for some time. His reliance on contested climate narratives, without engaging the underlying science, sidelined dissenters—dismissing “climate deniers” as “foolish” in a 2024 CBS interview. Shame.

Laudato Si’ was a masterstroke of moral rhetoric, tying environmentalism to Catholic social teaching. It inspired movements like the Laudato Si’ Action Platform and pushed Catholic institutions toward divestment from fossil fuels. Shame.

By prioritizing institutional consensus over open inquiry, Francis stifled the Church’s potential as a neutral arbiter. His calls for “decisive action” at COP28 and interfaith climate declarations, like the 2024 Jakarta statement, showed zeal but ignored economic trade-offs and ignored the failure of climate models. The simulation models are useless at forecasting weather and climate, useful as political tools.

To his credit, Francis’s heart was with the poor, whom he saw as climate change’s worst victims. His push for “ecological debt” forgiveness for poorer nations was a sincere, and foolish, plea.

What if science limits the meaning of our lives; there is no purpose beyond that which we create? Some of us will live on—through our genes, our inventions, our writings or the good works we have sponsored. Even Pope’s die, and that which he has writ cannot be erased, not one line of it however foolish.