This chapter outlines a historiography of the papacy and the environment and begins with several observations. First, papal approaches to the environment are shaped by the historical evolution of the papacy itself. Second, notions of environment and environmentalism are varied across secular, religious, and, by extension, papal discourse and action. Relatedly, these pluriform conceptions are influenced by locations that include geographic, epistemological, and socio-cultural. Thus informed, the chapter engages two distinct periods. The first is the sixth to the sixteenth centuries, wherein papal approaches to the environment were variously shaped by notions of wilderness, classical natural history, anthropocentrism, monastic spiritualities and activities, and expanding ecclesial infrastructure and temporal power. The second period begins with global industrialization around 1750 and continues through to today. Therein, papal environmentalism is especially expressed in modern Catholic social teaching that began with Leo XIII in 1891 and continues through Francis I, especially Laudato si’ in 2015.

This chapter examines the papacy’s positioning vis-à-vis colonization and decolonization, defined both as a political changeover from European to African governance and as a longer, subtler, and more complex process of rejecting European influence and authority in both the public and private spheres, including religion. It investigates Vatican approaches to Catholic missions in Africa during the colonial period, how successive popes navigated the political changes of decolonization, and how they sought to make Catholicism more hospitable to Africans. Finally, it underlines how Africans themselves, such as the prominent intellectual Alioune Diop, played a central role in instigating papal action to make the Church less Eurocentric and more welcoming to other peoples and cultures.

After the First Vatican Council, some believed that a council was not necessary any more: the Pope alone was able to govern the Catholic Church. John XXIII’s decision to convene a council was surprising in this context. Considered by some as an extension of Vatican I, which originally was to produce a whole teaching on the Church in which the pope was to be situated, the Second Vatican Council teaching situates the pope in the people of God and within the College of Bishops, proclaiming the doctrine of collegiality. The two popes of the council were going to modify the figure and the style of the papacy. John XXIII, by developing fraternal ties with the non-Catholic Christians invited to the council and who came in large numbers; Paul VI gave worldwide influence to the papacy through his travels to Jerusalem, India, and to the United Nations headquarters in New York, establishing relationships with non-Christians.