Senior officials in the Vatican believe American withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement is a commitment to the past, not the future, according to Alister Doyle, reporting for Reuters. When President Trump visited the Vatican in May, the Pope gifted him a signed copy of a 2015 environmental manifesto, urging him to honor his commitment to the accord and to the planet. The Vatican worries that climate change will disproportionately affect the poor.

The Vatican, which has historically been hesitant in embracing land breaking scientific discoveries, has been quick to support climate science. Bishop Sanchez Sorondo, head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences believes that science is of paramount importance for the Church’s interests as well as the world’s interests.