Pope Francis, the Roman Catholic Church, and Citizen Attitudes Towards Climate Change in Latin America

This study investigates the influence of trust in the Catholic Church and perceptions of Pope Francis on Latin Americans' beliefs about anthropogenic climate change. Using data from the 2017 Latinobarómetro survey (13,472 respondents across 18 countries), the findings reveal that Roman Catholics are less likely to believe in man-made climate change than evangelical Christians or those with no religious affiliation. Trust in the Church negatively correlates with belief in anthropogenic climate change, while positive assessments of Pope Francis show a positive effect. This suggests that increased climate action could result from a more unified and assertive stance on climate change from regional Catholic dioceses, rather than solely relying on the Pope's influence.

Alejandro Ecker, Friederike Nüssel, Jale Tosun