Survey examines US Catholics’ views on environment, climate
March 29, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University has published “American Catholics’ Views on Climate Justice,” based on a survey of 1,342 Catholic adults.
A small majority (52%) of Catholics who attend Mass weekly have heard of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical letter on care for our common home. Only 15% of Catholics who “rarely or never” attend Mass have heard of the encyclical; overall, 33% of Catholics have heard of it.
Among the survey’s other findings:
- 44% believe that their dioceses are doing too little, and 31% believe that Pope Francis is doing too little, to “help reduce the effects of global climate change.”
- 72% believe that “environmental justice is a legitimate issue that needs urgent attention,” and 69% believe that it is important or very important “for Catholics to engage in environmental justice”—yet far fewer Catholics (44%) believe that “Catholics are morally responsible for the environment.”
- Those surveyed “rank environment / pollution / climate, on average, number 14 out [of] 15 issues facing the country today.”
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