Some in the Vatican, however, see the Pope’s position as more binding on the faithful. At a Dec. 3 Acton Institute conference on Laudato Si in Rome, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, insisted the Pope’s support for climate-change science is not mere opinion, but part of the ordinary magisterium, and so is owed the same obedience by the faithful as the recognition that abortion is a mortal sin (which is also part of the ordinary magisterium, he pointed out). “When the Pope supports this because the majority tell him that scientific opinion thinks this, this isn’t an opinion; this is magisterium,” he said, stressing it’s not dogma and infallible, but still demands a level of obedience.
Edward Pentin, "On Climate Change, Pope Francis Builds on His Predecessors’ Positions", National Catholic Register, 11 Dec. 2015.
