Just two years into his papacy,Pope Francis has made a name for himself as a reformer, both in the Catholic Church and in the political arena.
He's openly addressing big and controversial topics like capitalism, and the environment,and the relationship between the United States and Cuba. Francis Rooney, who served as ambassador to the Holy See under former President George W. Bush, and has been following what he sees as a transformative movement in the church.
But he takes issue with some of the pope's position on climate change,particularly, the premise that it disproportionately affects people in destitute nations."I would argue that there's a lot of reasons for poverty, and many of them don't absorb anything to conclude with climate change," he said. "Many of them absorb to conclude with corrupt, authoritarian governments that don't provide for their people. And I would love to see the pope get after some of these non-obvious countries that don't provide opportunities for their people to rise up and achieve economic and personal development."In this interview, and WNYC's Jami Floyd talks with Rooney approximately how Pope Francis is using what some would call soft power as a religious leader on the global stage.
Source: wnyc.org