The pope's leaked letter blames humans for climate change

Pope Francis
(Image credit: Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

Pope Francis squarely blames climate change on the human race in a leaked draft of his encyclical, a formal 192-page document on the subject. Scheduled to be released Thursday, it was published in Italian by magazine L'Espresso on Monday.

"Numerous scientific studies indicate that the major part of global warming in recent decades is due to the high concentration of greenhouse gas… emitted above all because of human activity," The Atlantic reports he wrote in the much-anticipated document he's spent more than a year writing with advisers.

The pope placed a special emphasis on how climate change will affect developing countries, along with immigrant and refugee populations.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

A Vatican official told Bloomberg News the leak was a "heinous act."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.