<b>The complete text of the landmark encyclical letter from Pope Francis that, as<i>Time</i> magazine reported, “rocked the international community”</b><br><br>In the <i>Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality</i>, the beloved Pope exhorts the world to combat environmental degradation and its impact on the poor. In a stirring, clarion call that is not merely aimed at Catholic readers but rather at a wide, lay audience, the Pope cites the overwhelming scientific evidence of climate change, and does not hesitate to detail how it is the result of a historic level of unequal distribution of wealth.<br><br>It is, in short, as the <i>New York Times </i>labeled it, “An urgent call to action . . . intended to persuade followers&nbsp;around the world change their behavior, in hopes of protecting a fragile planet.”<br><br>With an insightful and informative introduction by Harvard professor Naomi Oreskes, famed for her bestselling<i>Merchants of Doubt:</i> <i>How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming.</i>