Emily Burke never expected she would get the chance to speak directly to Pope Francis.
But there she was last month, face-to-face with the Pontiff—virtually, at least, over Zoom–suggesting ways in which the Catholic Church could begin to take a leadership role in addressing the ongoing problem of climate change.
For Burke, a graduate student in the Department of Sociology who hails from Milwaukee, it was a thrilling and almost surreal experience.
“I was just hyper-focused on what I was saying,” she says. “I had his attention for a good 90 seconds.” […]