Eureka Street Podcasts

Both John Paul II and Benedict XVI made passing reference to environmental issues. Benedict spoke of the need for protection of the environment, resources the climate in his encyclical Caritas in Veritate. But in terms of its significance, Pope Francis' forthcoming encyclical has the potential to do for the environmental movement what Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891) did for the union movement - to provide it with a powerful source of moral and religious legitimacy in the face of those forces which have sought to limit their influence.