Are American Catholics missing something important?

Only about 40 percent of American Catholics know about the Pope Francis' Laudatu Si Encyclical on Climate Change, with only about 23 percent hearing about the issue from a mass they attended, according to the reports of the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and Yale University through Catholic Herald.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Next month, Pope Francis is set to focus his concerns about climate change during his visit to the United States. His visit is in relation to the World Meeting of Families, to be held in Philadelphia this coming September. The Pope is expected to address the issue in his sermon and teaching.

It was explained, in a survey conducted, that only 43 percent of Catholics and about 39 percent of the adult population expressed favor with Pope Francis' statements on climate change being a moral issue, with a small percentage believing it has no relation whatsoever to the issue of poverty and religion.

Executive Director of the Climate Change Covenant, Dan Misleh expressed to the Catholic Herald that the results of the survey were "unfortunate."

"There's a clear human impact. That's going to be our challenge - to explain that this environmental question is really a thriving question," explained Misleh.

Earlier this June, the Pope released the Laudatu Si Encyclical for Climate Change and called on global leaders to take the initiative to take action and immediately address the growing environmental concern over global warming and climate change. In a report by Christian Today, the Pope argued that global warming was triggered by a "structurally perverse" world economic system and the main objective of gaining profit, which in a way abuses the poor and endangers the Earth by turning it into an "immense pile of filth."

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