Mr. Pell also was the author of the National Foundation of the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965.
Despite claims to the contrary, humanity cannot act as a normative ground.
"Poetry is such a brilliantly reflective and inspiring way to motivate humanity to act," he said.
"I think of betrayal as a crack in the veneer of humanity, an act that reveals to us, and others, our base animal nature".
The prospect that the pope, from his perch at the pinnacle of the Catholic church, will exhort humanity to act on climate change as a moral imperative is a direct threat to a core belief of US conservatives.
To the orthodox it seemed blasphemous to hold that humanity could act wholly outside the sphere of divine omnipotence, which had been so vividly portrayed by the Qurʾān but which the Muʿtazilah had endeavoured to explain away in order to make room for humanity's free and independent action.
However, those who "love humanity" and "act privately for the public good" are philanthropists.
Munro also points out that some eminent climate scientists, like Princeton University's Michael Oppenheimer, remain optimistic that humanity will act before it is too late.
This cloud of junk poses a threat to the satellites and spacecraft circling our planet, including the International Space Station, and many researchers say humanity must act soon to prevent the problem from really getting out of hand.
In 2000, a Senegal court charged him with crimes against humanity, including "acts of torture and acts of barbarity".
"Crimes against humanity means acts that are committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population," Mr. Ellis said.
