Pope Francis Aide Blasts U.S. Climate Skeptics

The pope’s closest adviser on Tuesday slammed climate-change skeptics, blaming capitalist motivations from “movements in the United States” for opposing the Catholic Church leader’s upcoming environmental letter. The letter also comes ahead of the United Nations’ meeting on climate change in Paris this December. At a news conference in Rome marking the start of Caritas Internationalis, an annual meeting of Catholic charitable groups, The Boston Globe reports that Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga said, “The ideology surrounding environmental issues is too tied to a capitalism that doesn’t want to stop ruining the environment because they don’t want to give up their profits.” Pope Francis is expected to issue his encyclical letter on the environment this year, and Rodríguez said many within and outside of the Catholic Church are looking forward to it “with hope.” The letter also comes ahead of the United Nations’ meeting on climate change in Paris this December.