Praying for the ‘Conversion’ of Climate-Change Skeptics? by Phil Lawler

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, Jul 10, 2025

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

As he celebrated the newly released Mass for the Care of Creation yesterday, Pope Leo XIV encouraged prayers “for the conversion of many people, both inside and outside the Church, who still do not recognize the urgency of caring for our common home.”

We all stand in constant need of conversion. But conversion to what? If the Holy Father meant that we should all learn greater respect for the wonders of God’s creation, good Christians can quickly join in the prayers. But if he meant that all men and women should be “converted” to belief in the reality of man-made climate change, his appeal raises serious questions.

Unfortunately there is good reason to believe that Pope Leo was praying for “conversion” of the latter sort. In the same homily he called attention to recent natural disasters and the human suffering they caused, and said that these disasters are “often caused—at least in part—by human excess and our way of life.” …

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