Pope Francis is the most vocal pope about things that don’t normally fall into the Church’s realm. One of his pet issues is climate change. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the head of a major religion would grab at another issue that is largely driven on faith. After all, the climate change zealots have been predicting the end of the world for years. And like many previous claims that the end is nigh, it has yet to happen.

It isn’t turning out to be all high fives and cheers in the Vatican though. Turns out there are quite a few people inside the church that don’t buy into Gaia hypothesis.  The breakdown in the United States is what you would expect. From the Hill:

American Catholics are about as divided on the matter of climate change as the rest of the general public, the Pew Research Center found in a survey ahead a major statement on the environment by Pope Francis.

Seventy-one percent of U.S. Catholics believe the Earth is warming, Pew found in a survey released on Tuesday, but fewer than half think it’s caused by human activity or think it’s a very serious problem. All three figures are similar to the general public’s views on the issue.

Catholics’ opinions on global warming break down along party lines. Eighty-five percent of Catholic Democrats believe in global warming and 64 percent call it a “very serious problem,” according to Pew. Only 51 percent of Catholic Republicans believe the Earth is getting warmer, and it’s viewed as a serious problem by 24 percent of them.

Another issue that Pope Francis has opined on is Civil Unions. This is earth shattering compared to the church’s traditional silence. A lot of the faithful did not take to this too kindly. From the Church Militant:

Leading prelates are reprimanding Pope Francis for his “scandalous” endorsement of homosexual civil unions, asking the pontiff to retract his approval “for the sake of the salvation of his immortal soul.”

Lest you think that is the end of his leftist leanings, he has also been outspoken on income inequality.

“The world is rich, and yet the number of poor people is swelling all around us,” said Pope Francis. With the increasing wealth inequality, the pope pointed to the current challenges facing humanity, “Hundreds of millions of people are struggling in extreme poverty, and are lacking food, housing, healthcare, schooling, electricity, and drinkable water.

These pronouncements can only widen fissures that were already in the church. Leftist leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi claim to be devout Catholics while embracing abortion. What we will see more of is the left using Pope Francis and his views to wrap themselves in righteousness.  He is a very powerful figure that can provide cover for all kinds of leftist shenanigans.