Framing ‘Green Pope’ Francis: newspaper coverage of Encyclical Laudato Si’ in the United States and the United Kingdom

Abstract

One of the voices that has recently joined the discussion on environmental protection is that of Pope Francis with the publication of the encyclical Laudato Si’ (2015). This work studies the keys to interpretation used by the British and U.S. newspapers to present the encyclical between 14 and 24 June 2015. By analysing newspaper coverage by The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times from a framing perspective, a political focal point emerges, one that lends importance to the impact of the encyclical on a local level, due to the presence of sceptical voices in the North American context, and on a global level, due to the imminence of the Paris Climate Change Conference (COP21).

Keywords

• Framing
• Pope Francis
• content analysis
• Laudato Si’
• climate change