Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum surmised Pope Francis is attempting to “reach out to people that have not been listening” with his ardent message on climate change.
“For the pope to engage in things that are relevant to people’s lives, who have walked away from faith or faith is not an important part of their life, he’s now tried to reach in and create a touchstone,” Santorum said. “And they’re listening because he’s speaking their language.”
A recent poll found eight out of 10 Catholics approve of the direction Pope Francis is taking the Catholic Church.
“We can agree or disagree as to how big a threat global climate change is, and obviously, I have some disagreements there,” Santorum added. “But the thrust of it is, we need to be good stewards of the environment.”
Santorum earlier suggested Pope Francis should “leave the science to the scientists.”