Cardinal Pell is a radical climate change sceptic, says former Australian PM Kevin Rudd

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (pictured) has described Cardinal George Pell as a "radical climate sceptic", said the cardinal's "inflated rhetoric" could no longer go unchallenged and contrasted his stance with that of Pope Francis.

Delivering the Rowan Williams Lecture on 10 November at Trinity College, an Anglican establishment at Melbourne University, on "Faith, Ethics and Climate Change", Mr Rudd (who was raised a Catholic but now worships as an Anglican) said the former Archbishop of Sydney who is now Prefect of the Vatican's Secretariat for the Economy needed an "ecological conversion".

Mr Rudd, who led Australia from 2007-10 and again briefly in 2013, said Cardinal Pell's denial of climate change science mirrored the views of another former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, who defeated Rudd's Labor Party in the 2013 Federal (General) Election.

"It is plain that Pope Francis’ position on the science, ethics and policy imperatives of climate change are fundamentally different to those articulated by Cardinal Pell both before the Papal Encyclical (Laudato Si'), and since," Mr Rudd said.

Cardinal George Pell's views on climate change are at odds with Pope Francis (PA)

"After many years of silence in response to Cardinal Pell’s public critique of my government’s policy on climate change, the reason I have chosen to enter the debate now is, on the eve of the Paris Conference, we once again enter into a critical time both for Australia and the world.

"It is, therefore, no small matter, at this most critical of times, for the ethical waters, at least in the community of faith, to be so deeply muddied, by such radical climate change sceptics as Cardinal Pell, and for his commentary to largely go by without challenge.

"Of course he is free to contribute to the public policy debate in any manner he wishes. But it is equally important, particularly now that Cardinal Pell has become a global figure, to have his own almost ex cathedra statements on climate change challenged by others in the public space. It is high time his views were confronted head on.

"The stakes are now far too high for us all.

"Pope Francis’ Encyclical provides us with the clarity of ethical guidance on the question of climate change the international community needs."