Unspoken crisis: the absence of climate change communication in U.S. Catholic churches

Abstract Climate change, as a topic, is virtually absent from discourse in the U.S. Catholic Masses. This is despite Pope Francis's strong emphasis on environmental stewardship in his two encyclicals Laudato Si’ (2015) and Laudate Deum (2023). Leveraging the increased online presence of churches since the COVID-19 pandemic, we employed automated text analysis to examine the transcripts of more than 700,000 services from Roman Catholic churches. For comparison, we also analyzed services from the Southern Baptist Convention, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, and the Association of Related Churches. Mentions of "climate change" occurred in 0.40% of the analyzed Catholic videos. Similar patterns were observed across other denominations, with higher engagement in the United Church of Christ and Presbyterian Church (USA), both liberal Protestant denominations, particularly around Earth Day. The observed lack of climate change communication at the parish level suggests that Pope Francis's messages did not reach or resonate with local clergy and congregations in the U.S. This disconnect has significant implications, given the potential influence of religious messaging on public opinion and policy—especially in a country where Catholics hold a disproportionate number of political offices. Our study suggests that scientists’ expectations that Pope Francis’s messaging on climate change would have a major impact on the climate conversation among American Catholics, and therefore on broader American climate discourse, have not been fulfilled, in part because American Catholic priests have not reinforced his message.