"WASHINGTON — As the steamy hurricane season descends on Miami, the city’s Roman Catholic archbishop, Thomas G. Wenski, is planning a summer of sermons, homilies and press events designed to highlight the threat that a warming planet, rising sea levels and more extreme storms pose to his community’s poorest and most vulnerable.
His sermons and speeches are meant to amplify the message of Pope Francis’ highly anticipated, highly controversial encyclical on the environment, which the Vatican is expected to unveil on Thursday. A papal encyclical, or teaching document, is among the strongest and most authoritative statements made by the Catholic Church.
In a draft of the document leaked on Monday, Francis reiterated the established science that burning fossil fuels are warming the planet, said the impact threatened the world’s poor and called for government policies to cut fossil fuel use."
Coral Davenport reports for the New York Times June 16, 2015.
SEE ALSO:
"Pope Calls for 'Action Now' To Save Planet, Stem Warming, Help Poor" (Reuters)
"Pope Francis Encyclical Calls for End To Fossil Fuels" (BBC News)
"Pope Francis Calls for Global Consensus To Save the Environment" (Los Angeles Times)
"Pope Francis, in Sweeping Encyclical, Calls for Swift Action on Climate Change" (New York Times)
"Pope Issues Environmental Message in Authoritative Document" (AP)
"Pope Urges Revolution To Save Earth, Fix 'Perverse' Economy" (AP)
"Highlights of the Pope's Case for Environmental Protection" (AP)
"Science, Religion, Policy: Excerpts From Pope's Encyclical" (AP)
"Scientists See Powerful Ally as Pope Poised To Release Climate Change Encyclical" (Toronto Star)
"Activists, U.N. Celebrate Pope's Call To Arms on Climate Change" (Reuters)
"Rice Survey: 58% in Houston Agree With Pope That Warming’s Mainly Man-Made" (Texas Climate News)
"One Big Fact Media Are Missing On Jeb Bush, The Pope, And Climate Change" (Media Matters)
"Catholics Divided Over Global Warming" (Pew Research Center)
"Pope Francis's Climate Encyclical: Next Comes the Hard Part" (InsideClimate News)
"Leaked Encyclical Highlights Growing Resistance To Pope's Reform Agenda" (NPR)
"Jeb Bush Knocks Pope on Climate Change Push" (Politico)
"The Most Radical Part of Pope Francis’s Message Isn’t About Climate Change" (Washington Post)
Official English Translation Text of Encyclical "Laudato Si" (Vatican)
"Release of Encyclical Reveals Pope’s Deep Dive Into Climate Science" (Washington Post)
"Cardinal Turkson Rebuffs Criticism From Skeptics" (AP)
"Behind the Scenes With the Pope's Secret Science Committee" (Bloomberg)
"Pope Francis Aligns Himself With Mainstream Science on Climate" (New York Times)
"Pope Francis: 'Unsustainable' Consumption Has Led To Climate Change" (Los Angeles Times)
Advertisement 
