Nga mihi atawhai – greetings to all in Mercy! Vatican watchers are predicting that Pope Francis is close to issuing an encyclical letter to the whole church on care for the environment, inviting us to be more aware of climate change and its implications for the world’s poor.

The papal document will come hard on the heels of Pope Francis’ visit in January to Tacloban, the Philippine city devastated in 2013 by typhoon Haiyan. “The pope is very aware that the consequences of climate change affect all people, but especially the poor,” says Bishop Marcelo Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. “This is the moral consequence, the moral imperative.

“If current trends continue, the century will witness unprecedented climate change and destruction of the ecosystem with tragic consequences.”