John Kerry claims Pope Francis rolled his eyes in private over climate change inaction

Former Secretary of State John Kerry claimed Friday that the late Pope Francis expressed private frustration over human inaction on dealing with climate change, even rolling his eyes.

Kerry, who served as U.S. Climate Envoy during the Biden administration, told MSNBC ahead of the pope's funeral about his private conversations with him on the subject. Asked if Pope Francis ever showed frustration in their chats about climate change, Kerry said, "Absolutely."

"He would roll his eyes a little bit about the human challenge, getting people to do things, but he had faith in that," Kerry said. "Obviously, he had faith. He was remarkable in his steady, calm, quiet but totally dedicated mission of dealing with this."

Kerry said Pope Francis was motivated by actual evidence of climate change's effects. He used his papacy to repeatedly call for reduced carbon emissions in industrialized countries.

Pope Francis waves during an audience with Hungarian pilgrims in Paul VI hall at the Vatican on April 25, 2024. He died this week at the age of 88. (Fillipo Monteforte/AFP via Getty)

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"It's really interesting, too, that this man of faith who was here to speak about the faith of the Church, and some of the beliefs that are based on faith, not evidence, but in the case of the climate crisis, it's all based on evidence," Kerry said. "It's not a matter of faith what is happening. It's a matter of mathematics, and physics, and biology, chemistry, and he knew that, and he accepted that."

In 2023, Pope Francis slammed the United States in particular as "irresponsible" on emissions compared to China. 

"The world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point," the pope wrote in the 12-page "Laudate Deum," which means "Praise God" in Latin, Fox News Digital previously reported.

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Pope Francis appears on the central lodge of St. Peter's Basilica for the last time before his death to bestow the Urbi et Orbi in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Gregorio Borgia/AP)

In a 2015 encyclical, Pope Francis wrote the planet was "beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth."

"Many of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms, simply making efforts to reduce some of the negative impacts of climate change," he wrote at the time. "However, many of these symptoms indicate that such effects will continue to worsen if we continue with current models of production and consumption."

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Pope Francis' advocacy didn't go over well with conservatives, with some figures accusing him of scolding industrial progress that had made life better for humanity. 

Fox News Digital's Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.