Pope Francis leaves a world-changing climate, environmental and humanitarian legacy

Pope Francis, who passed away just after Easter, has left a world-changing legacy through his unique effort to raise issues such as climate change and environmental protection to being the first pope with a human-rights agenda that included recognising those who suffered abuse under the Catholic Church and refusing to condemn homosexuals and trans people.

The Pope declared destroying the environment a sin, warned that humanity was turning the glorious creation of God into a “polluted wasteland full of debris, desolation and filth,” and said the cause of the climate crisis is people’s “selfish and boundless thirst for power.”

Pope Francis’ messages on the climate and environmental crises were direct and forceful. He called the leaders of fossil fuel companies into the Vatican to hold them to account; declared a global climate emergency, in 2019; and in his final months, held a conference on “the economics of the common good.”

Tributes from climate and environmental leaders have poured in since his death.

Thea Ormerod, founder and CEO of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) said, “Pope Francis didn’t do ‘thoughts and prayers,’ he made real, practical interventions on addressing climate change, for example by advocating for agreements at COP (United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change).”

Laurence Tubiana, chief of the European Climate Foundation and an architect of the 2015 Paris agreement, sad on social media that Pope Francis was an ‘important voice’: “By clearly setting out the causes of the crisis we are experiencing, [he] reminded us who the fight against the climate crisis is aimed at: humanity as a whole.”

The outspoken Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, said Pope Francis was a “beacon of global moral strategic leadership” who had guided and inspired her through the “dark and desolate days” of the Covid pandemic. She described him as a hero and recalled spending time with him last year, where he reinforced in her “the importance of always aligning our hearts, our heads, and our hands with our faith – to see, hear, and feel all people, so that we may help them, and to protect our planet.

The Pope was also considered a game-changer with regard to LGBTQI rights. Martin Pendergast, the secretary of the LGBT+ Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council said the pontiff had turned away from "really quite offensive" statements made by his predecessors on issues of sexuality and gender identity.

While Pope Francis maintained the Vatican's position that homosexual acts were sinful, he said gay people should not be marginalised from the Church, adding: "Who am I to judge?"

During Francis's papacy, some priests who were openly gay were removed from their posts, but the Vatican changed this policy in 2023, allowing gay men to enter the priesthood as long as they remained celibate.

The Pope also issued an apology in May last year following reports that he had used extremely derogatory language towards gay men in a private meeting.

The Pope also made the church’s most significant efforts to address a history of sexual and physical abuse in countries around the world. In a statement in April 2013, the Holy See press office said Pope Francis told the Vatican watchdog that dealt with sexual abuse cases to bring in measures to "protect minors," to "help those who have suffered" and carry out "necessary procedures against those who are guilty."

In the 12 years that followed, he attempted to reform the church's public image and private attitudes towards abuse and a culture of cover-ups.

The world has paid tribute to a Pope with a progressive agenda that helped move the church forward on many issues and looks ahead to the selection of the next Pope and the hope that his legacy and the progress he made can continue.