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John Paul II wasn't the same sort of "eccentric", but he did stray several times on the environment. Here's one excerpt:
Vatican (CWN) - Speaking to an international Rotary Club group at the Vatican this morning, Pope John Paul II
said that care for the environment now constitutes one of the "new forms of solidarity" across the generations. By careful stewardship of our natural
resources, he explained, we can help "those who are neediest, and those of future generations."
The Rotary Club International is meeting in Rome to discuss the theme of security and the environment. Responding to that theme, the Holy Father urged the international delegates not to fall into the "double temptation" of the modern era: the temptation to equate wisdom with power over nature, and to use resources solely in pursuit of immediate profit "according to the mentality of modern capitalist society."
Against that temptation, the Pope urged the Rotary leaders to consider the world's environment as a home for mankind, to be maintained in the best possible condition. He emphasized that "our new scientific capacities have taken on a strong ethical dimension."+ March 24, 1997