The Countryside and the Land Are Not Disposable: Pope Francis' Environmental Legacy
Throughout his papacy, Jorge Bergoglio became a global ethical reference by denouncing the climate crisis, criticizing the extractive production model, and defending agricultural work with dignity.
On April 21, 2025, with the death of Pope Francis, not only was the voice of the first Latin American pontiff silenced, but also one of the most forceful voices on the international stage regarding environmental justice. Francis did not speak of climate change as a distant or technical phenomenon, but as an urgent human drama, affecting especially the poorest and demanding a radical transformation of the global economic and production system.
Francis never treated climate change as an isolated environmental issue. In his encyclical Laudato si’ (2015), he directly denounced the human impact on global warming.
He stated that the Earth is “abused and plundered,” and that the root of the problem lies in an economic system that promotes a throwaway culture, the exploitation of resources, and limitless consumption. He also wrote that “the climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all,” and emphasized that “there is a very solid scientific consensus indicating that we are witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system [...] largely due to human activity.”
But the Pope didn’t stop at sounding the alarm; he pointed fingers at those directly responsible: large corporations, indifferent political leaders, and societies that prefer to ignore the problem in order to maintain their privileges. He further detailed that “the submission of politics to technology and finance demonstrates the failure of climate summits.”
When he published Laudate Deum in 2023, he insisted again: the environmental crisis can no longer be delayed. He was no longer speaking of the future, but of the present.
He stated that the impacts of climate change were becoming increasingly extreme and uncontrollable: prolonged droughts, wildfires, crop losses, ecosystem collapse. In fact, he warned that “we cannot deceive ourselves into thinking superficial measures are enough. We are already paying the consequences of our inaction.”
A Direct Critique Of The Extractive Model
Francis openly rejected the extractivist logic that drives much of today’s productive models, especially in Latin America. He denounced a system that prioritizes short-term profit, devastates rural territories, pollutes rivers and air, and displaces peasant and Indigenous communities.
In various speeches, he warned that this form of production fosters unequal development, where a few benefit while millions suffer the consequences. He raised concerns about the intensive use of agrochemicals, the expansion of agricultural frontiers without planning, and the concentration of land and resources in the hands of large corporations.
His message struck a chord in rural debates. Family farmers, agroecological organizations, and cooperatives found in him an ethical validation of their struggles: for access to land, sustainable production, and the protection of common goods like water, soil, and seeds.
Indeed, Francis dedicated numerous messages to the rural world. He did not idealize agriculture, but he valued it as a key arena for the future of humanity.
In 2024, during his speech at the Global Conference of the World Rural Forum, he praised farming families for their contribution to food security and their responsible relationship with the land. He warned then that “those who cultivate the land with their own hands sustain the life of the people. We need to support them, protect them, and recognize the social value of their work.”
The Pope believed that the dominant model of agricultural production—based on intensive mechanization, crop homogenization, and an export-oriented logic—excludes millions of rural workers and threatens biodiversity. In contrast, he promoted an “agroecological transition,” an agriculture based on diversity, cooperation, and justice.
"Integral Ecology" As An Ethical Proposal
The concept of “integral ecology” was one of Francis’ major contributions to contemporary thought. Unlike approaches that separate the environment from the economy or human life, the Pope argued that all these dimensions are intertwined.
In this context, he proposed a new way of relating to nature, not as owners or dominators, but as caretakers. This call is especially urgent in agricultural regions like the Gran Chaco, the Amazon, or the Pampas, where pressure to expand agricultural production jeopardizes environmental balance.
His proposal was not limited to religion. It constituted an ethical-political program that today fuels discussions in universities, environmental forums, and rural movements around the world.
An Uncomfortable But Necessary Message
Francis made many uncomfortable. He did not fear criticizing the powerful or exposing the contradictions of a global system that produces excess food yet condemns more than 800 million people to hunger.
He did not call for a return to the past, but he did urge abandoning the fantasy of infinite growth. His legacy, beyond doctrine, offers an ethical compass in times of uncertainty: to cultivate without destroying, to produce without excluding, to live without ravaging.