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For Jerry Brown, climate change issue melds the spiritual and political

Buried in Pope Francis' encyclical on climate change was a reference that Gov. Jerry Brown could have appreciated.

The pontiff cited a French priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whose controversial writings on science and religion veered from church dogma and were forbidden for Brown to study when he was a young Jesuit seminary student.

Now, six decades later, the same priest was being used by the pope, leader of the faith to which Brown once pledged, to make the case for addressing climate change, an issue Brown champions.

"What's unacceptable becomes acceptable," Brown said in an interview.