Pope Francis says the natural world is on “the brink” warning that the wrong responses to the Covid-19 and climate change crises risk putting humanity on a “path of self-destruction”.
The 84-year-old Pope issued two messages to mark Earth Day: the first to the Earth Day Live event and the second to United States’ President Joe Biden’s summit of world leaders.
“Now is the time to act. We are at the brink,” he said in his Earth Day Message. Francis went onto urge “leaders of the world to act with courage, to act with justice and to always tell the truth to people.”
Speaking to the US summit, where leaders put forward more ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the Pope said it is time to “take charge of the care of nature, of this gift that we have received and that we have to heal, guard, and carry forward”.
Throughout his pontificate, Francis has made the moral case for tackling climate change, urging governments to take action and last year pledged the Vatican City State will hit the target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. In his 2015 encyclical on the environment, Laudato si’, he updated Catholic social doctrine to include care of creation while arguing that Christians should understand the biblical mandate for humanity to have “dominion” over the earth as “responsible stewardship” and not “absolute domination”.
In both Earth Day messages, the Pope linked the battle against climate change with the Covid-19 pandemic pointing to an old Spanish saying that “God always forgives, men forgive from time to time, nature no longer forgives.” He said both crises required innovation and fresh thinking.
“We do not come out of a crisis in the same way, we come out better or worse,” the Pope told the Earth Day 2021 gathering. “This is the challenge, and if we do not come out better, we are on a path of self-destruction.”
Speaking to the US summit Francis praised the “beautiful decision” to hold the event, which he described as a “happy one”. He said the gathering pointed the way to COP26 climate change gathering of world leaders hosted by the UK government in Glasgow. The COP meeting is crucial for building consensus across governments to protect the planet, and it is believed the Pope is considering travelling to Glasgow for the event.
On Earth Day the Pope said he wanted to “accompany” world leaders as “they move forward”. In 2015 timed the publication of Laudato si’ to influence the Paris climate summit, COP21, which led to a historic deal to reduce global carbon emissions.
The Vatican was unhappy with the decision by President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords: he did so in 2017 just days after meeting the Pope and promising where he promised to read Laudato si’. Francis later said that “sadly” some had “abandoned” the Paris deal.
The Biden administration’s decision to re-assert the US’ global leadership on this issue, rejoining the Paris agreement and planning to cut emissions in half by 2030, will be welcomed by the Holy See.
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