Warning world leaders that time is running out to tackle climate change, Pope Francis urged them on Friday to “make radical decisions” that “provide effective responses to the current environmental crisis” when they meet at the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow next week. …
In a message recorded for Thought for the Day, a daily morning reflection broadcast on BBC Radio 4, Francis said that only urgent action can “give concrete hope to future generations.”
The Vatican said this month that the Pope will not be attending the summit known as COP26, although Francis said last month that he wants to be in Glasgow. Instead, the delegation will be led by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
From the beginning of his papacy, now in its eighth year, Francis has made it clear that environmental issues will be a priority. He noted that poor people are most affected by the “environmental crisis” caused by economic models, industrial systems and policies that damage the environment.
In 2015, Francis released Laudato Si: Taking Care of Our Common Home, the first papal encyclical dedicated exclusively to the environment. A global call for better planetary care, it was immense in ambition and scope.
In his message to the BBC, Francis referred to a joint appeal signed at the Vatican on October 4 by religious leaders and academics calling on Cop26 members to “take swift, responsible and cooperative action to protect, restore and heal our wounded humanity. and the house entrusted to us. “
These efforts, he said on Friday, require “tireless work to eliminate” the seeds of conflict: greed, indifference, ignorance, fear, injustice, insecurity and violence. “
“Humanity has never before had so many means at its disposal to achieve this goal,” Francis said. “And it bears repeating that each of us, whoever and wherever we are, can play a role in changing our collective response to the unprecedented threat of climate change and the degradation of our common home.”
