Climate-induced migration is rapidly emerging as one of the most pressing humanitarian and ethical challenges of the 21st century. As environmental crises—rising sea levels, desertification, hurricanes, and wildfires—displace millions globally, the intersection of religion and migration has become an essential area of study. Catholic social teaching, or CST, provides scholars and activists with a framework to understand and respond to the morality of climate migration, offering a theological vision of justice, solidarity, and care for creation. This paper examines how CST shapes the Catholic Church's response to climate migration, exploring its engagement through direct humanitarian assistance, advocacy, and policy intervention. By analyzing case studies from the United States, Latin America, the Pacific Islands, and Africa, this paper demonstrates that Catholic institutions are responding to climate migration and helping shape international conversations on the rights of climate-displaced persons.
Theological Foundations of Catholic Responses to Climate Migration
Catholic social teaching provides a foundation for engaging with climate migration through its key principles of the preferential option for the poor, human dignity, and the common good. Pope Francis's Laudato Si' (2015) and Fratelli Tutti (2020) explicitly link environmental degradation with displacement, calling for a "new and universal solidarity" with those forced to migrate due to ecological crises.
The CST principle of integral ecology, articulated in Laudato Si', asserts an interconnection of environmental, social, economic, and spiritual dimensions that challenges the fragmentation often present in policy debates on climate migration. Rather than viewing migrants solely through a monetary or security lens, CST insists that the world recognizes displaced individuals as persons with inherent dignity, whose forced movement is often a symptom of broader structural injustices.
Catholic theology has historically emphasized hospitality and the duty to welcome the stranger through its scriptural tradition, coupled with CST's advocacy for justice. It has driven Catholic engagement in the direct service of climate migrants and in shaping broader migration governance.
Catholic Responses to Climate Migration: Empirical Case Studies
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Central America
In Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, CRS implements climate-adaptation projects to prevent forced migration by addressing environmental degradation at its source.
One such initiative, the Water-Smart Agriculture (WSA) program, helps farmers in Central America's "Dry Corridor" adopt sustainable agricultural techniques to combat erratic rainfall and soil erosion. CRS seeks to reduce the push factors driving climate displacement by improving crop resilience. However, when migration appears to be inevitable, Catholic Relief Services also provides direct humanitarian assistance to displaced persons, advocating for their protection and working with local parishes to ensure their migration process upholds their dignity.
The Catholic Climate Covenant (CCC) and U.S. Policy Advocacy
In the United States, the Catholic Climate Covenant (CCC) has been instrumental in advancing a faith-based perspective on climate migration. CCC works within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to integrate environmental justice into the Church's broader advocacy on immigration. Through lobbying efforts, the CCC has urged U.S. policymakers to recognize the growing number of climate-displaced persons and to expand refugee and asylum protections accordingly.
The Role of Catholic Networks in the Pacific Islands
The Pacific Islands present one of the most dramatic cases of climate displacement. Rising sea levels threaten the very existence of nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands. Catholic organizations, including Caritas Oceania and the Columban Missionaries, have worked closely with island communities to provide practical and spiritual support for those facing displacement.
The Normative and Policy Implications of Catholic Engagement
Beyond direct assistance, Catholic organizations shape global policy discussions. A key challenge in migration governance is the lack of legal recognition for climate refugees under international law. The 1951 Refugee Convention does not include environmental displacement as grounds for asylum, leaving climate migrants in a legal limbo.
Catholic advocacy groups, including Caritas Internationalis and the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, have called for expanding refugee definitions to include climate displacement. At the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), the Vatican delegation emphasized the moral responsibility of nations to protect those displaced by environmental crises. It must prioritize the human dignity of all people. The Synod on Synodality (which the Catholic Church held from 2021 to 2024) underscored this responsibility by featuring discussions on climate migration as part of its reflection on the global mission.
Conclusion: The Church as a Moral and Practical Actor in Climate Migration Governance
Through outreach and advocacy, these Catholic institutions have positioned themselves as key actors in addressing the intersection of climate and migration, giving the audience a lens through which to understand an ethical response to climate migration. This paper's case studies illustrate that religious communities actively shape the lived realities and political frameworks surrounding climate migration.
This paper engages both empirical data and theological reflection to argue that Catholic social teaching offers a transformative vision for climate migration governance that prioritizes justice, dignity, and the common good in an era of unprecedented environmental displacement.
As climate change accelerates forced migration, Catholic social teaching (CST) provides a critical ethical and theological framework for addressing climate-induced displacement. This paper examines how CST informs Catholic responses to climate migration through humanitarian action, policy advocacy, and global governance efforts. Using case studies from Catholic Relief Services in Central America and the Catholic Climate Covenant in the U.S., this paper highlights the Church’s role in supporting climate migrants. It explores how Catholic Social Teaching principles, especially the common good, human dignity, and the preferential option for the poor, shape faith-based interventions and influence international migration policy. Catholic organizations challenge existing legal definitions of refugees, advocating for expanded protections for climate-displaced persons. This study asserts that Catholic actors are not only responding to climate migration but actively shaping ethical and political discourse on migration governance in an era of ecological crisis.