Pope Francis has called on world leaders to heed the “cry of the Earth and of the poor”.
Speaking to worshippers in St Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said: “Let us pray so that the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor will be heard and that this meeting may give effective answers offering concrete hope to future generations.”
These words echo the remarks he made directly to the British people in a recent Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4 in which he called for “radical decisions”.
He said: “The political decision makers who will meet at COP26 in Glasgow are urgently summoned to provide effective responses to the present ecological crisis and in this way to offer concrete hope to future generations. And it is worth repeating that each of us – whoever and wherever we may be – can play our own part in changing our collective response to the unprecedented threat of climate change and the degradation of our common home.”
Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin who is leading the Vatican delegation said: “It is the Holy See’s hope that COP26 will reaffirm the centrality of multilateralism and of action, also with regard to the so-called non-state actors. Given the slow progress made so far, the Glasgow Conference will prove quite important, for it will measure and motivate the collective will and the level of ambition of individual states.
“It is the Holy See’s hope that COP26 will reaffirm the centrality of multilateralism and of action, also with regard to the so-called non-state actors. Given the slow progress made so far, the Glasgow Conference will prove quite important, for it will measure and motivate the collective will and the level of ambition of individual states.
“It is important that COP26 provide a clear collective response, not only in promoting efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change on the part of all countries but also in helping the most vulnerable countries to confront the loss and damage that climate change caused. Tragically, these are already a reality in many contexts.”
Another member of the delegation, Nicholas Fitzpatrick of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, put a number on the Vatican’s hopes for COP26: “We need to maintain a view of the 1.5C targets, which is written in the Paris Agreement, as opposed to 2C which is the upper limit.”
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