Most American Catholic Bishops Have Kept Silent On Francis’ Push Against Climate Change

(RNS) – This weekend, Pope Francis posted a series of tweets that linked environmental and social crises. This connection embodies “integral ecology” which is a refrain of his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si ‘”.

The publication of “Laudato Si ‘” marked a turning point in the fight against climate change. Secular environmentalists were encouraged to see such a distinguished world leader dedicate one of his most powerful tools to their cause. Many American Catholics hoped the encyclical would inspire their bishops to make climate change a priority.

Almost as soon as the document was released, however, the American bishops showed signs that they would largely ignore the Pope’s exhortation in their teachings and actions.

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In 2019, we began examining the writings of American bishops to their flocks to see what they have said about climate change and “Laudato Si” over the past five years. We asked: Did the American bishops faithfully communicate the Church’s teachings on climate change before and after “Laudato Si ‘”?

Our research clearly shows that communications from American Catholic Bishops have collectively diminished the encyclical’s impact on climate change.

Our study focused on ordinary bishops: those who lead a geographic segment of the Catholic Church known as the diocese. We have compiled 12,077 columns published by these bishops in official publications for 171 of the 178 Catholic dioceses in the United States from June 2014 – one year before “Laudato Si ‘” – to June 2019.

Bishops’ columns are not just a matter of personal views. Bishops have a duty to share the fullness of faith, including the Church’s teaching on climate change, with their diocese. They also oversee buildings and land, school programs, investments and advocacy that could be used to help alleviate the climate crisis.

Overall, American Catholic bishops have been overwhelmingly silent on climate change.

Of the 12,077 columns we studied, only 93 (0.8%) mention climate change, global warming or their equivalent. These 93 columns come from just 53 of the 201 bishops in our dataset. The other 148 (74%) never mentioned climate change in their columns.

Geographic distribution of 93 columns of American Catholic Bishops that mention climate change or global warming. Courtesy graphic

Second, when the bishops mentioned climate change, they strayed from the Church’s teaching on this issue: 44 of the 93 columns (47%) that mention climate change do not refer to the teaching of the Church. ‘Church on the matter.

Of the 49 columns that do, many fail to substantively communicate the content of the church’s teaching on climate change. In six columns, the bishop downplayed the Pope’s authority to teach climate change. In nine columns, the bishop downplayed the focus on climate change in the church’s broader ecological teachings.

In addition, 29 columns do not clearly express the bishop’s personal perspective on teaching. Since silence can be a form of climate change denial, readers might interpret their bishop’s silence as disagreement – and license to dissent.

When the bishops mentioned climate change, they downplayed parts of “Laudato Si ‘” that conflict with a conservative political identity or ideology.

Because America’s political conservatives have a history of deny, ignore and sow doubt on climate change, it is reasonable to assume that many bishops – who are increasingly recognized as aligned politically with the Republican Party – may have experienced tensions between their political ideology and their duty to communicate church teaching on climate change.

Video screenshots of clergy attending the annual spring meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, June 17, 2021. Video screenshots

Bishops, after all, fall into other demographics besides being religious leaders: they’re mostly older white Catholics. In 2016, 47% of American bishops who responded to a investigation said the conservative Fox News Channel was their main source of cable news.

According to a recent academic study, conservative American Catholics “devalued the pope’s credibility on climate changeAfter “Laudato Si ‘” and appeared more guided on the question by political ideology than by the teaching of the Pope. This political ideology argues that climate change is not really happening, not man-made, or not urgent.

Conversely in “Laudato Si ‘”, Francis reiterated 25 years of papal teaching of Saint John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI that man-made climate change is real and urgent. Yet only 56 of the 12,077 Bishops’ Columns (0.46%) describe climate change as real or ongoing. Only 14 columns (0.12%) affirm the scientific consensus on climate change. Only 29 columns (0.24%) describe climate change as urgent.

In “Laudato Si ‘”, François quoted with approval learned analyzes that deregulated growth-based capitalism is the predominant cause of climate change. American bishops, however, have remained almost silent on the economic causes of climate change. Fifty-four of the 56 columns (96%) that treat climate change as real or happening do not describe its economic roots – a phenomenon known as “ideological denial.”

Bishops who mentioned climate change also backed away from Francis on what to do about it. The church teaches that internal and external actions are complementary and that social justice is essential to Christian love. In “Laudato Si´,” Francis calls for internal action (eg, prayer and education) and external action, including social justice (eg, political advocacy).

Pope Francis is silhouetted during a private audience at the Vatican on December 14, 2019 (Yara Nardi / Pool photo via AP)

However, American bishops who have discussed climate change have emphasized internal action rather than external action and largely ignored public policies. Of the 93 columns that refer to climate change, 73 (78%) mention internal action. Only 36 columns (39%) mention an external environmental action. Only nine columns (9.7%) name a particular policy on climate change such as the Paris Agreement.

The relative silence of the bishops on environmental policy is particularly noticeable as they have not remained silent in their columns on politics around other social issues, such as abortion, which rarely appear in “Laudato Si”. While Francis mentioned climate change 24 times and abortion only once, the bishops mentioned both issues with equal frequency when discussing the encyclical.

Our results do not definitively show that the conservatism of the American Catholic bishops was the main cause of their silence on climate change or of the biased teachings around “Laudato Si”. In addition, some bishops may have approached climate change in their dioceses other than by writing columns.

Nonetheless, our data revealed that as a group, American Catholic Bishops were silent, denial and biased about climate change in their official diocesan publications around “Laudato Si”. Most of all, we found that they were in a way that fits the conservative political identity.

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Our findings raise questions about whether America’s Catholic bishops will embrace the new Laudato Si ‘action platform. Our results also suggest that American bishops are wasting opportunities to connect with youth and young adults who, as a demographic group to prioritize climate change and are increasingly less affiliated with religion, including Catholicism.

The bishops’ silence on climate policy raises serious questions about how many American bishops will support the Vatican’s advocacy for an international climate agreement at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which starts November 1st.

The Catholic Church in the United States has an unprecedented ability to help avoid climate catastrophe. He also has the responsibility of facing the climate emergency as essential part of its mission. To realize this potential and fidelity, however, American bishops must fulfill their duty to teach the fullness of faith which includes the Church’s teaching on climate change.

(Daniel R. DiLeo is Associate Professor and Director of the Justice and Peace Studies Program at Creighton University. Sabrina Danielsen is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Creighton. Emily E. Burke is Doctoral Student in the Joint Program of Sociology and Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This essay is adapted from their article published in Environmental Research Letters with support from Creighton and the Louisville Institute. The opinions expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)