How Pope Francis united a once-skeptical Church with climate action

When Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected to lead the Catholic Church in 2013, he chose the papal name Francis, in honor of the 13th-century Saint Francis of Assisi, known as the patron saint of environmentalists…

How Pope Francis united a once-skeptical Church with climate action

Pope Francis, who chose his papal name after the 13th-century figure St. Francis of Assisi, known as the patron saint of ecologists, was the fiercest climate and environment advocate in the church’s history.

Pope Francis was a reformist, environmentalist and peace advocate

BY the time you read this, Jorge Bergoglio, the first pope to choose the name Francis, would have been buried. Coming from the Society of Jesus, commonly called the Jesuit Order, one would have thought the name was chosen in honour of St Francis Xavier, one of its founding members (and, coincidentally, a saint who had visited the Malay peninsula centuries ago). However, the name was chosen in honour of St Francis of Assisi. According to some rep…

GUEST APPEARANCE: Pope Francis was a breath of fresh air

A man and leader in our time, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, better known as Pope Francis, is dead. He passed away, giving his final homily the day before on Easter Sunday, the holiest day for Roman Catholics. Coming from Argentina and…

Pontiff who inspired the global movement against climate change

In a shift for the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, who died Monday at 88, was a strong and vocal environmental advocate and used his papacy to help inspire global efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. He framed climate change as a spiritual issue, emphasising the connections between global warming, poverty and social upheaval throughout his […]

Pope Francis spoke out for the care of the environment and against its destruction along his papacy.