MELBOURNE, Australia -- Unless there is at least one institution, such as the church, dedicated to posing the ethical dilemmas present in the public policy debate, there is a grave danger that these debates automatically become subsumed by the pragmatic considerations of politics.

As a Catholic who observed closely the resignation of the emeritus pope and elevation of Jorge Bergoglio, in March of 2013, with hope and some suspicion, I find myself vexed by the profuse adulation Pope Francis I received during his visit to the United States.

Millennials of faith who care about animals have traditionally struggled to find a receptive ear in the church. When faced with the once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the Holy Father, we felt as though we were standing in their shoes.

Churches and institutions of higher education are beginning to take this moral imperative seriously. There are people of good will who are making changes, and there are decent people whose highest priority is to protect investment portfolios--not the planet.

Pope Francis, addressing climate change before a Congress dominated by Republicans -- more than half of whom deny its reality -- and Democrats who despair of doing anything about it, was a prophet of hope rather than doom. If Francis can make a difference here, he may yet go down in history as the pope who saved the world.

We need a green energy moon shot and a bold national mobilization on the scale of World War II. Morality is crying out for us to heed what Pope Francis calls "the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor" by becoming the next Greatest Generation.