Local Catholics react to Pope Francis’ climate change message

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Catholic world is buzzing about a statement from Pope Francis against climate change. Folks across the world are talking about his 184 page encyclical, including people in Indianapolis.

“There’s definitely been a lot of conversation about it,” local Catholic Matt Duffy said.

He gathered with his friends on Georgia St. Thursday after noon mass at St. John the Evangelist Church.

In the encyclical, Pope Francis called climate change “a global problem with grave implications for all of us. Environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods.”

“I loved it,” Duffy said. “We were made out of love. That’s what we believe, and we need to respond to everything that God has created with love.”

Pope Francis isn’t the first pope to address the environment. His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, was often called the “Green Pope” due to his strong stance environmental stance. Pope Francis chose his papal name after St. Francis, the patron saint of ecology.

But Fr. Kenneth Taylor of Holy Angels Catholic School said a statement of this magnitude is unprecedented and historic.

“I think that Pope Francis is trying to change the direction of the church to make this a higher priority on the list of things that we discuss from a spiritual aspect,” Fr. Taylor said.

It’s a change that Fr. Taylor welcomes, and one that he said could prompt him to preach about the environment even more.

Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin released a statement on the pope’s climate change stance. It reads, in part, “Pope Francis is highlighting the strong link between respecting human dignity and the care for the natural world. If we love God then we need to love what He has created.”