Bill Patenaude is a special lecturer of theology at Providence College in Rhode Island. He is the chief author of Catholic Ecology, where he has speculated about what Pope Francis’ encyclical might contain. Contact via Chrissy Centazzo.

Michael Peppard is an assistant professor at Fordham University in New York City.

Austen Ivereigh is a U.K.-based writer, journalist and commentator best known for his books on and with Pope Francis, and for his role in the media explaining the convictions of the Catholic Church. He is Fellow in Contemporary Church History at Campion Hall, Oxford, and a regular contributor to The Tablet, America magazine and Commonweal, […]

Veerabhadran Ramanathan is a distinguished professor of atmospheric and climate sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and an “ordinary academician” at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Rome. His work is expected to have contributed to Pope Francis’ encyclical.

Marc Morano is executive director of ClimateDepot.com and communications director at Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, a conservative think tank in Washington that is skeptical of man-made climate change. He has been critical of Pope Francis’ involvement in climate change issues and his reliance on United Nations climate change data.

Catholic Climate Covenant is an umbrella environmental and climate change advocacy organization that includes multiple Catholic organizations, such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It organizes public letters to policymakers on environmental topics and provides training on lobbying.

Thomas Peters started and runs the American Papist blog and works with Catholic Vote. He speaks about Catholicism and politics, pro-life issues and pro-family activism, the future of social media and youth activism.

Lisa A. Keister is a professor of sociology at Duke University in Durham, N.C. She has written several books examining the link between religion and poverty as well as prosperity.