- Ahead of the 2015 Paris Summit, Pope Francis published a landmark climate and faith document, Laudato Si’ Concerning the Care of Our Common Home, which ultimately Many of the Pope’s words about human responsibility and hope were incorporated into the landmark climate change agreement.
- But this week, Pope Francis issued a follow-up condemning eight years of climate inaction, repeated failures to effectively respond to the seriously escalating global climate crisis, and unfulfilled empty promises. Published the document “Laudate Deum”.
- In a new document, the Pope pointed out that the world’s poorest people are suffering the most from record heat waves, storms, floods, droughts, melting glaciers and rising sea levels. He also argues that it is the duty of the world’s richest countries to decisively lead humanity out of the crisis before the planet reaches the “point of no return”.
- The timing of Pope Francis’ declaration makes it clear that he hopes it will have a positive impact on the COP28 climate change conference to be held in the United Arab Emirates in early December, which will be chaired by oil company executives.
Pope Francis has emerged this week as an outspoken critic of past U.N. climate change summits, warning that countries continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels even as the Earth’s climate becomes more volatile and violent. He criticized world leaders for their empty rhetoric and broken promises. He called for real and urgent action before the planet reaches a “point of no return”.
“International negotiations are unable to make much progress because of the position of each country, which prioritizes national interests over common global interests,” Francis wrote. Laudate Deum“Those who suffer the consequences of what we are trying to hide will never forget this lack of conscience and responsibility,” the Vatican said in a document released on October 4.
The Pope’s unsparing assessment of the repeated failures of world leaders to address the rapidly escalating climate crisis is contained in an 18-page addendum to the Pope’s historic encyclical on climate change and environmental protection. . Laudato Si, regarding the care of our communal house. Released in June 2015, it attracted attention all over the world..
The encyclical, the Catholic Church’s highest teaching document, was intended to influence 21 churches.cent The United Nations Climate Summit was held in Paris in December 2015.
And it happened. Laudato Si’s Principles It was included in the preamble to the historic Paris Agreement, when 190 countries first agreed to work together to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1900 baseline.
Regarding Paris’ temporary success, Francisco said: Laudate Deum Since then, the agreement continues to be undermined by “poor implementation due to the lack of adequate mechanisms for monitoring, periodic review and penalties in case of non-compliance”.
In hindsight, some may wonder what would have happened otherwise. The desire of the United States under President Barack Obama to encourage China and the G20 countries to sign the Paris Agreement was predicated on the agreement being voluntary. And the United States under President Donald Trump missed and disrupted the four post-Paris United Nations summits. All serious climate change negotiations have stalled.
And instead of embracing alternative energy, world leaders are issuing platitudes at annual summits, increasing global fossil fuel subsidies to $7 trillion a year, and increasing global oil, natural gas and coal companies’ while failing to meet the less ambitious Paris goals. The world became hotter and poorer countries suffered.
in Laudate DeumPresident Francis is about to express his hopes for the likely outcome of the next United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP28), possibly urging world policymakers to implement the climate change mitigation and damages agreements they signed and then shelve them. They may be trying to pressure you into doing so.
But he cannot ignore that the November meeting will be held in the oil-rich OPEC member United Arab Emirates and will be chaired by an oil company executive. The Pope said the UAE is embracing renewable energy but is mindful that it is still “a great exporter of fossil fuels, with the aim of further increasing its production.”
“When I say I can’t expect anything, [from COP28] Because it means exposing all humanity, especially the poorest, to the worst effects of climate change,” the Pope wrote.
Comment from Daniel Horan Laudate Deum Catholic National Reporter says: In our contemporary context, it is those living in the Global North, particularly North America, who benefit most from the conditions contributing to the climate crisis. ”
“Impacts related to people’s lives”
In his decade as leader of the world’s largest religion, with an estimated 1.3 billion Catholics, Pope Francis has largely avoided controversy or upsetting the powerful, whether in business, government or his own Vatican hierarchy. There wasn’t. His soaring popularity has waned in recent years after heavy criticism from conservatives within the church, but despite the backlash, he hopes to regain his role as a high-profile climate leader. It seems like it is.
In that vein, he is taking on climate change deniers among his followers. After spending pages authoritatively citing current climate change science and enumerating its negative impacts on humans, including rising temperatures, droughts, floods, melting glaciers, and rising sea levels, he writes:
“We cannot hide the correlation between these global climate phenomena and the accelerating increase in greenhouse gas emissions, especially since the mid-2020s.th “Even within the Catholic Church, I encounter certain negative and hardly rational opinions, so as obvious as they may seem, I feel obligated to make them clear. There is.”
25% or more Laudate Deum It means “Praise God” in Latin and is dedicated to evaluating the policies of the United Nations Climate Change Summit and its minor successes. Their big failure. But Francis places the entire document on a moral and spiritual basis from which he derives his unique authority. His love for God’s creation, the biodiversity that gives life to the Amazon rainforest, the world’s oceans, and wild areas everywhere, is matched by an infinite empathy for the poor.
“How can we forget that Africa, home to more than half of the world’s poorest people, bears minimal responsibility for this historic catastrophe? [carbon] What are the emissions? ”
He also draws attention to his namesake, St. Francis, and the saint’s deep connection to nature. The Pope declared that environmental destruction is tantamount to a sin because “attacks on nature affect people’s lives.” And while he marveled at the possibilities of technological intervention, he said, “Never before have humans had so much power over themselves, but nothing guarantees that it will be used wisely…” “It has said.
In this new declaration, made ahead of the COP28 summit, Pope Francis addresses issues that currently occupy much of Catholic leadership, including clerical celibacy, gay marriage, and ordained women. Go outside the frame of. As world leader, he is appealing to people of all faiths to act now amid existential threats to life on Earth.
“It takes clarity and honesty to eventually recognize that our power and the progress we are producing are working against us,” the Pope wrote.
Banner image: Pope Francis.Former EP President (2012-2017) Image by Martin Schulz visual hunt.
Justin Catanoso He is a regular contributor to Mongabay and a professor of journalism at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. He prepares his analysis of Laudate Deum from interviews with international policymakers, theologians, and faith leaders who are on the front lines of fighting climate change.
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