WEST LAFAYETTE – John Sheffield talks in terms of “hydrogen energy romantics” and “true believers” in the research he and others are doing in the field that he’s convinced could tip the balance on climate change and a sustainable energy future.

On Friday, Sheffield, a Purdue engineering technology professor, will be at the Vatican looking to make Pope Francis a convert, too.

Sheffield, president of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy, and three colleagues in the field will have a private audience with Pope Francis to talk about climate change and sustainable energy, two years after the pontiff made news at the United National Climate Action Summit in 2019 by saying climate change was a “serious and worrying phenomena.”

“We know he’s paying attention,” Sheffield said this week from his office on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus, before leaving for Rome. “We’ll see what he thinks about what we have to say.”

Sheffield, who came to Purdue in 2015, said a member of the international association – Juan Carlos Bolcich – has known the pope for years in their homes in Argentina. That got a foot in the door at the Vatican for this week’s audience.

Sheffield said the group expects to have a half-hour to make a pitch about hydrogen energy’s potential. He said he’d come ready with practical applications happening now, including work Cummins Inc., Columbus, Indiana-based engine maker, is doing to develop fleets that can run off hydrogen fuel cells.

Question: What’s your plan once you’re there, sitting with Pope Francis?

Sheffield: We have a petition, which is a one-page document that our founding president (T. Nejat Veziroglu) wrote, stating in simple terms why hydrogen energy technology provides the only sustainable solution to address issues of climate change.

Q: And you’re looking for Pope Francis to do what at that point?

Sheffield: He’s asked executives of energy companies to address climate change. Our point is that if Cummins, which is famous for using diesel engines, can in a three-year period open up to using electric transportation vehicles, that things like this can happen much faster than we’ve ever expected. In the past, we’ve always said it’ll take a long time for this technology to penetrate. So, I think that the organization of the pope has a platform to speak for other organizations and scientists. If it resonates and aligns with his objectives, then it can be seen as a good goal for us all.

Q: What are your chances of capturing that from a half-hour with Pope Francis?

Sheffield: Based on the timing, I would say pretty good.

Q: What was your reaction when you heard about the meeting?

Sheffield: We found out Dec. 27. … I told Ken Burbank, our department head (in Purdue’s School of Engineering Technology), this is a late Christmas present, but it’s the best one I’ve ever had.

Q: Wait, no better Christmas present, even when you were a kid?

Sheffield: To be honest, if it was a pope, then yes. But this pope? I have a graduate student from Colombia here on a Fulbright Scholarship. He said that in South America, (Pope Francis) is considered disruptive. But in a good way – that he really is the magnet of the church and society. Read all that he has done and accomplished. Otherwise, we might say it was nice to have a meeting and that it was fantastic opportunity. But what happens, really? In this case, I think something will happen.

Q: In what way?

Sheffield: I don’t know what that is. But my feeling is that his organization and the academy at the Vatican and with his constant persistence, it’ll be inevitable. Those of us going, we’re just sort of the messengers. The message has already been created from his point of view.

Q: Are you expecting him – let’s say he buys your message – to use his platform to say hydrogen energy is a way, or the way or the best way? What would you like to see?

Sheffield: I think we’d like it to go from a way to the best way. Whether he feels confident to say that or there are lots of consequences if he says that, it doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways. … Cummins will continue to make diesel engines, and they’ll continue to make electric vehicles, but they’ll also continue to make vehicles with on-board charging – that is a fuel cell. A lot of times, people think it’s binary – either or. I think what the pope is saying is that was have to start now on everything possible but under one golden rule, that sustainability means either the Earth survives or it doesn’t. … It’s the first time I’ve seen somebody that has spoken and conveyed so passionately about it.

Q: Are you going to have time to see the sites?

Sheffield: Some, I’m sure. … At this point, we’re just delighted to be there and then taking whatever comes afterward. We are spending a day afterward to be able to regroup, thinking we might have something he asks us to do. So, we’re prepared Saturday to get organized after our meeting with him on Friday.

Q: What else are thinking as you prepare?

Sheffield: I think the real opportunity is that he’s reached out. I mean, we reached out. But a lot of people have reached out to the pope. But it’s when he reverses it, that matters. Maybe it’s just the timing. It’s important for us to reflect on, Why now?

Q: And you think, Why now, is because of what?

Sheffield: I think that in his background, from Argentina, social justice translates into empowerment. And people need to feel like they have something they can do that actually will save the Earth, that will do something. As opposed to, “Let’s try this and see if it works.” Or, ‘Never mind, it’s just too late.’

If you go way back, we often quote Jules Verne (from “The Mysterious Island”) and him saying hydrogen from water will eventually replace coal. So, the concept is not novel. People have thought of this. But now we have the technologies. Now we have the companies that see the risk of not doing something and are ready to be bold. … Maybe next, the pope.

Reach Dave Bangert at 765-420-5258 or at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.