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A study suggests that the Pope could significantly reduce global carbon emissions by urging Catholics to return to the traditional practice of not eating meat on Fridays.
Cambridge University researchers assessed the impact of a return to meat-free Fridays for Catholics in England and Wales. In September 2011, following a 26-year hiatus, bishops called on congregations to forgo meat on Fridays.
While only around a quarter of Catholics in England and Wales changed their dietary habits, this saved more than 55,000 tonnes of carbon a year, according to the study.
The research team say this is equivalent to 82,000 fewer people taking a return trip from London to New York over the course of a year.
They say that the environmental benefits, such as reducing carbon emissions, could be scaled up if the Pope reinstated the obligation to Catholics worldwide, or if bishops in other countries made the same call.
“For instance, even if only the United States Catholic bishops were to follow suit, the benefits would likely be 20 times larger than in the UK,” the authors wrote.
The study’s lead author, Professor Shaun Larcom, from Cambridge’s Department of Land Economy, said: “The Catholic Church is very well placed to help mitigate climate change, with more than one billion followers around the world.
“Pope Francis has already highlighted the moral imperative for action on the climate emergency, and the important role of civil society in achieving sustainability through lifestyle change. Meat agriculture is one of the major drivers of greenhouse gas emissions.
“If the Pope was to reinstate the obligation for meatless Fridays to all Catholics globally, it could be a major source of low-cost emissions reductions.”
Traditionally, the practice of refraining from meat one day a week saw many Catholics – and large sections of the population in predominantly Christian countries – turn to fish on Fridays as a protein substitute.
The researchers based their analysis on a nationally representative survey commissioned in 2021, which had 5,055 respondents, of which 489 identified as Catholic, and on the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, conducted each year by Public Health England.
The obligation to forego meat on one day of the week has ancient origins. It is backed by Canon Law, according to the study.
For Christians, the practice of meat-free Fridays dates back to at least Pope Nicholas I’s declaration in the 9th century.
Catholics were required to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in memory of Christ’s death and crucifixion.
The researchers point out that the practice was observed so fervently among some American Catholics that it led to the invention of the Filet-o-Fish meal by the burger chain McDonald’s.
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