Pope Francis sends a message to participants in a Vatican conference on resilience and climate change, and urges all nations to work together to reduce carbon emissions and help people adapt to climate change.
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is hosting a two-day conference at the Vatican’s Casino Pio IV, on 13-14 July, focusing on the theme: “Resilience of People and Ecosystems under Climate Stress”.
As the event kicked off on Wednesday, Pope Francis sent his greetings to participants, and encouraged their efforts to discuss the environmental crisis.
The Pope said the world is facing the twin challenges of “lessening climate risks by reducing emissions” and of “assisting and enabling people to adapt to progressively worsening changes to the climate”.
These challenges require everyone to come up with a multi-dimensional approach to protect people and the planet, he added.
International cooperation on climate issues
Pope Francis made reference to his oft-repeated call for an “ecological conversion”, saying this process requires everyone to be grateful for God’s Creation, to live in communion with one another, and to work together to deal with environmental problems.
The Pope called on the most-developed nations to reduce their own carbon emissions, while also offering financial assistance to “less prosperous areas of the world”.
Access to clean energy and drinking water are other issues that world leaders need to address, he said, adding that farmers need help to shift production to more resilient crops.
Common good of the planet
The Pope recalled the related concerns of loss of biodiversity and the various wars that threaten human survival and lead to “problems of food security and increasing pollution”.
“Everything is connected,” repeated Pope Francis, adding that “promoting the long-term common good of our planet is essential to genuine ecological conversion”.
He noted that the Holy See and Vatican City State have recently acceded to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.
Protecting the human family
In conclusion, Pope Francis encouraged participants in the Vatican resilience conference in their efforts on behalf of people and the planet.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
Latest News
