by Ben Wilson

When Pope Francis was elected, he stepped into a world already choked with greenhouse gases, threatening lives and livelihoods now and long into the future. This was not unlike the church he inherited, which was choked with scandal and corruption, clericalism, inward-looking introspection, and a kind of deference that stifled renewal. Much like Pope John XXIII, himself a surprise candidate when elected in 1958, who sought to ’throw open the windows of the church and let the fresh air of the spirit blow through’ Pope Francis too felt like a breath of fresh air. He opened the windows wide—not just of the Church, but of Catholic imagination—and let the wind of the Spirit blow freely again.

Nowhere is that fresh air more powerfully felt than in Laudato Si’, his groundbreaking encyclical that continues to shape the Church’s witness to this day. Before Laudato Si’, many of the things we now take for granted were far from clear: that the Church stands firmly with the science of climate change; that the poorest are suffering first and worst, and that future generations are at grave risk; and that climate change is not just a scientific or economic issue, but a moral and spiritual crisis.

Dr Ben Wilson is Director of Public Engagement at SCIAF.

Photo by Dominic Cullen