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The Jesuit pope has made caring for the planet – our "common home" – one of the central focuses of his pontificate
By Loup Besmond de Senneville | Vatican City
Ever since Pope Francis was elected Bishop of Rome in 2013, he has increasingly given more attention to issues concerning ecology.
People close to him routinely say the environment is a "central topic of the pontificate", a "priority of the pope" or a "major concern for Francis".
It is a concern that crystallized in 2015 with the publication of the ecological and social encyclical, Laudato si'.
Since then, the text has remained a reference that Francis continues to expand upon in his addresses.
This is undoubtedly what he will also do at COP26 through the speech he is expected to entrust to his Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who will be leading the Holy See's delegation during the climate negotiations next week in Glasgow.
Francis, who turns 85 in December, has continued to offer fresh reflections on ecological issues. How does he do it?
There is no better guarded secret in the Vatican than the identity of the men and women the pope consults.
But several people that spoke to La Croixhelped identify three sources from which the pope gets updated information that inspires his reflections.
The Vatican's mega-office for social issues
First pole of information is the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, a sort of large "social" ministry that Francis created in 2016.
This is where Father Joshtrom Kureethadam works, an Indian priest in charge of overseeing a group of six people working on the environment.
He is responsible for coordinating reflection, teasing out the intuitions that Francis spells out in Laudato si', and identifying initiatives taken by Catholics around the world.
Kureethadam, who is a professor of the philosophy of science, also regularly calls on experts from recognized institutions, such as the Stockholm Environment Institute.
He will be part of the six-member Vatican delegation at the climate conference in Glasgow.
The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development also collaborates with other networks, including the Jesuits, the pope's "spiritual family".
The pope's fellow Jesuits
The Society of Jesus is the second source of inspiration for Francis.
His Jesuit confreres even created an international network in 2008, dubbed Ecojesuit, to both push for reflection on climate change and encourage action.
"First of all, it is a matter of justice," explained Father Xavier Jeyaraj, who is in charge of the secretariat for social justice and ecology for the Society.
An Indian originally from the Calcutta Jesuit province, Jeyaraj has closely studied the consequences of mining on the poorest people.
He said that in India alone there are a hundred Jesuit social centers committed to the environment.
But the pope, who is used to working with both the Roman Curia and experts from his own networks outside of Italy, is also in direct contact with the initiators of local projects, especially in Latin America.
These constitute the third circle that Francis consults.
Trusted friends and experts in Latin America
This is the case, for example, for Efraín Dawkins Sanmiguel.
This young Colombian journalist met with the pope in December 2020 to talk about the critical situation on the islands of San Andrés and Providencia, which had been devastated by a hurricane a month earlier.
The pope also calls on Bishop Jorge Rubén Lugones, a fellow Argentine Jesuit who is very involved in the ecological field.
And he consults Luis Liberman, a long-time friend who runs a "university of water and sanitation" in Buenos Aires.
Francis has even met several times with the French climatologist Jean Jouzel and French parliamentarian Pierre Larrouturou.
Meeting with Joe Biden
Observers closely scrutinized the pope's meeting on Friday with US President Joe Biden.
"It is obvious that the COP will be at the center of their discussions," said someone close to Francis before the meeting took place.
And in the end that is exactly what happened.
The Holy See Press Office said the pope and Biden "focused on the joint commitment to the protection and care of the planet" during part of their 75-minute private meeting.
It is not clear exactly what the two men said during their closed-door conversation, but a source close to Francis said beforehand that "what the pope will say to the Catholic president will perhaps be decisive".
Because in the end, and contrary to his own announcement, the pope is not going to Glasgow.
"He was very strongly urged to go, but sees a risk of manipulation there," said someone who knows him well.
"He is willing to play the role of moral authority, but not to get involved in the political game," this source said.
"For him, it is up to the politicians, and them alone, to make decisions."
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