Earth Day is reminder to reflect on Pope Francis’ hopes for our ‘common home’ | Opinion

The world mourns the passing of Pope Francis, who died the day after Easter, Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88. His papacy was marked by a profound commitment to social justice, environmental stewardship, and compassion for the most vulnerable among us — those marginalized by society and/or circumstance. I am not a Catholic, but like many who mourn Francis’ passing, I admire the man, who happened to be the Pope.

As we reflect on his legacy, it’s fitting as we celebrate Earth Day on April 22, to revisit his 2015 encyclical, “Laudato Si,’” which emphasized the moral imperative of caring for our “common home.”

Pope Francis presents climate change as a moral and spiritual crisis, highlighting the interconnectedness of ecological degradation and social injustice. He calls for a global ecological conversion, urging nations to reduce fossil fuel use, transition to renewable energy, and adopt sustainable consumption practices. The encyclical critiques market-driven excess and advocates for international cooperation and robust environmental regulation to protect our planet and its most vulnerable inhabitants.

The vision described in some detail in “Laudato Si’” stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s energy and environment agenda, which is marked by fossil fuel expansion, regulatory rollbacks, and rejection of international climate efforts, such as the landmark Paris Agreement.

Where Pope Francis recognized the interrelatedness of many of the World’s festering crises with care for our “common home,” Donald Trump imagines a fortress America, whose walls prevent the “invasion”of those driven from their ancestral homes by drought, crop failures, desertification, and poverty.

Along with rising sea levels, these climate driven occurrences will continue to displace tens of millions, especially from Central and South America, sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Asia. Pope Francis himself was born in Argentina.

His parents were immigrants from Italy. Pope Francis urged empathy and responsibility toward displaced populations, recognizing that climate change disproportionately burdens those least responsible for it (the United States is most responsible for cumulative CO2 emissions since the industrial era). Even ignoring the moral imperative, building walls does nothing to hold back the consequences of climate change for Americans, whether they be in Arizona, which is running out of water, or New Hampshire, where devastating floods are disrupting agriculture.

Trump’s environmental and energy polices — among them decimating the EPA, rolling back vehicle emission standards, and expanding the use of coal — will cause air pollution-related illnesses, like asthma, bronchitis, and cardiovascular disease, to soar, especially in low-income urban communities. At the same time, Trump's cuts to CDC and NIH will decimate America’s ability to track the health effects of his policy initiatives, and develop the means to address them.

We know that coal is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel. Coal combustion releases neurotoxins (like mercury), sulfur dioxide, and fine particulates that are devastating to human lungs and brains. Global markets are increasingly shifting to less polluting and cheaper renewables. And yet, in a puzzling move, Trump has directed The Department of Energy to incentivize coal plant construction and to reactivate shuttered facilities, while the EPA is relaxing environmental regulations on mercury emissions and coal ash disposal. A commitment to coal undermines global climate targets and contradicts nearly all scientific guidance on energy policy in the era of climate crisis.

In “Laudato Si,’” Pope Francis called on us to rethink progress not as the accumulation of wealth for the privileged few, but as harmony with the Earth and justice for the poor. Trump’s agenda centers on deregulation and fossil fuel expansion, amplifying systemic climate vulnerabilities and exposing the most marginalized among us to worsening climate-driven impacts, while locking in a legacy of planetary risk. The choice between these two paradigms is not merely political—it is existential.

Pope Francis ended his “Laudato Si’” with a prayer, which included this plea: “God of love…Enlighten those who possess power and money that they may avoid the sin of indifference, that they may love the common good, advance the weak, and care for this world in which we live.”

This story was originally published April 25, 2025 at 5:00 AM.