A papal witness for the defense

My comments posted here at MoJ and at First Things regarding papal authority on empirical questions of the sort investigated by the natural sciences (such as the questions at issue in the debate over climate change) have drawn skepticism (and even allegations of bad faith) in some circles. This despite the fact that none of the critics seems willing to say that my account of the Catholic understanding of such authority is erroneous. Their complaint seems to be with the timing of my comments. And some even suggest that I'm ignoring the "fact" (as they imagine it to be) that there is no legitimate scientific debate about climate-change issues, since they are "settled." The allegation is that my comments are meant preemptively to license dissent from the encyclical letter on the environment that Pope Francis is preparing.  And so:

The defense calls as its witness Jorge Bergoglio:

"Now, it's not an easy issue because on the protection of creation and the study of human ecology, you can speak with sure certainty up to a certain point then come the scientific hypotheses some of which are rather sure, others aren't. In an encyclical like this that must be magisterial, it must only go forward on certainties, things that are sure. If the Pope says that the center of the universe is the earth and not the sun, he errs because he says something scientific that isn't right. That's also true here. We need to make the study, number by number, and I think it will become smaller. But going to the essence is what we can affirm with certainty. But, you could say in the notes, in the footnotes, that this is a hypotheses and this and this. To say it as an information, but not in the body of the encyclical which is doctrinal and needs to be certain."  (Source: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-transcript-of-popes-in-flight-interview-from-korea-96141/)

(Thanks to my friend Matthew Byrne for the source.)