In Francis' recent letter or 'encyclical' to bishops, in which the pontiff highlighted an urgent need to reduce climate change gases, he also wrote: "We know technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels, especially coal but also oil, and to a lesser degree, gas - need to be progressively replaced without delay.
"Until greater progress is made in developing widely accessible sources of renewable energy, it is legitimate to choose the lesser of two evils or to find short-term solutions."
Fracking is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas inside.
Andy Lester from Christian environmental charity, Arocha UK, disagrees with the pontiff: "We agree that it is the lesser of two evils, but at the end of the day we still see fracking as wrong," he told Premier's News Hour.
The reality here is that fracking is dangerous, one of the biggest threats is the impact on groundwater"
A bid to start the first fracking operation in the UK for four years was scrutinised by Lancashire council on Tuesday, after fracking was suspended in the UK in 2011.
Energy firm Cuadrilla wants to extract shale gas at Little Plumpton and Roseacre Wood on the Fylde Coast, in Lancashire.
The application for Little Plumpton was recommended for approval last week, but Roseacre Wood has been recommended for refusal.
A decision on the former is due on Wednesday.
