CARDINAL: IF CLIMATE TALKS STALL, POPE MAY GENTLY INTERVENE

LE BOURGET, France (AP) -- If international climate talks really stall, don't be surprised if there might be an ever-so-slight intervention by Pope Francis.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace who helped draft the pope's June encyclical on global warming, said the pontiff has "deep trust" that negotiators in Paris will get the job done. But just in case they don't, the pope might possibly send a gentle message, he said.

"If it gets to a stalemate or whatever, he may utter a statement or make a comment or whatever, but he will refrain from exercising any coercive power on the things over here, because that would not belong to his style," Turkson told The Associated Press after a press conference by Vatican officials Tuesday at the Paris climate talks. (by Seth Borenstein, Associated Press)