Pope Francis said Friday the Catholic Church is thinking of introducing ecological sins.
"We are thinking of introducing ecological sins, sins against our common home, into the catechism of the Catholic Church," he told an audience of legal experts on crimes against the environment in the Vatican.
"An elementary sense of just would impose that some conduct, which usually corporations are responsible for, cannot remain unpunished," Francis said.
"In particular, all those can be considered as 'ecocide'." The pope recalled that, in the recent synod on the Amazon, the Church dealt with the issue of ecological crimes.
Francis has written several essays and an encyclical, Laudato si', on the importance of preserving the earth's natural heritage and combating the climate crisis.
Laudato si', or Praise Be to You, was Francis's second encyclical.
The encyclical has the subtitle "on care for our common home".
In it, the pope critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, laments environmental degradation and global warming, and calls all people of the world to take "swift and unified global action."
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