Destruction of the environment is a sin against God that is both personal and structural, Pope Francis told the UN climate change summit COP28 in Dubai this morning.
“It has now become clear that the climate change presently taking place stems from the overheating of the planet, caused chiefly by the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human activity, which in recent decades has proved unsustainable for the ecosystem,” he said.
“The drive to produce and possess has become an obsession, resulting in an inordinate greed that has made the environment the object of unbridled exploitation. The climate, run amok, is crying out to us to halt this illusion of omnipotence.”
Blame should not be shifted onto the poor and high birth rates, he said. “The poor are the real victims of what is happening: we need think only of the plight of indigenous peoples, deforestation, the tragedies of hunger, water and food insecurity, and forced migration. Births are not a problem, but a resource: they are not opposed to life, but for life, whereas certain ideological and utilitarian models now being imposed with a velvet glove on families and peoples constitute real forms of colonisation.”
He called for COP28 to be a turning point. “Please, let us move forward and not turn back,” he continued. “And with God’s help, let us emerge from the dark night of wars and environmental devastation in order to turn our common future into the dawn of a new and radiant day.”
Earlier, King Charles III has said humans are carrying out a “vast, frightening experiment” on the planet, taking the natural world outside balanced norms and limits. The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth,” he warned, adding: “Our survivability will be imperilled.”
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