'Rock-Star Pope' Intends to Amplify His Climate Message

"While popular media is always enthusiastic about any new utterance by this beloved pope, not all utterances are created equal in the realm of the Catholic Church," explained Christiana Peppard, an assistant professor of theology, science and ethics at Fordham University.

"An encyclical is a document that has one of the highest forms of authority of any teaching in the church."

Recent popes have regularly called for more environmental stewardship, and they've spoken out on the specific topic of climate change, but no encyclical to date has solely focused on the environment.

"This is really exciting," said Jame Schaefer, an associate professor of systematic theology and ethics at Marquette University.

"For people who are already engaged [on climate change], it's very exciting to have that affirmation from the head of a church. It's important for them to ... feel, wow, we've got a leader from a world religion speaking up."

Many Vatican observers view a recent speech by Argentine Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo as a kind of preview of what Francis will call for in the document.  In the November speech, Sorondo said, "If current trends continue, this century will witness unprecedented climate change and the destruction of the ecosystem, with tragic consequences for us all.  Human action that doesn't respect nature has a boomerang effect on human beings, creating inequality."

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