What Pope Leo means for global climate action and colonialism

Pope Leo XIV , the successor of Pope Francis , is a clear beacon that climate justice movement his predecessor led isn’t going anywhere.

Experts see the selection of Robert Francis Prevost as a beacon that the faith-based climate justice.

The first Latin American pope, Francis was unique in implicitly embracing some elements of liberation theology, a Catholic social movement that calls for liberation of marginalized people.

In 2022 , Pope Francis officially apologized to Canada for the residential schools that ripped Indigenous children from their families.

In 2023 , he made clear that Indigenous peoples are critical to fighting climate change.

But Pope Francis ’ progressivism had its limits.

He transformed how religious institutions viewed the climate crisis, framing failure to act on it as a brutal injustice.

Pope Leo XIV was critical of the government’s human rights abuses in Peru in the 1990s .

He refrained from taking sides in the political fight between Maoist rebels and the government of then-dictator Alberto Fujimori .

In 2016 , the would-be pontiff spoke at a conference in Brazil where attendees talked about threats to the Amazon rainforest and Indigenous peoples.