Popular uprising needed to mobilise the world on climate change

Pope Francis was a moral voice for the world and must still be heeded

Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson has called for “a popular tide to rise up” to help politicians take necessary decisions on climate change.

She was speaking at a screening of The Letter – A Message for Our Earth that was hosted by the Laudato Si’ Movement as part of London Climate Action Week.

Robinson said, “I feel very encouraged by that film.” So far, she said, “politicians are not taking on the big polluters”, and “we need to shake up the system before COP30 in Brazil.”  

Lorna Gold, executive director of the movement, said, “We took away from our meeting with Pope Francis the need to work togethe. I have already met Pope Leo, who has signalled his support.”

Following the landmark 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, the film documented the journey to Rome of a small group from Senegal, the Amazon, India, and Hawaii, to discuss with Pope Francis solutions to environmental crises from perspectives of the poor, indigenous, youth, and wildlife.

Also, last week a new book, Laudate Deum: A Last Call for the Planet was launched online, hosted by the Laudato Si’ Research Institute, based in Campion Hall at the University of Oxford and inspired by the tenth anniversary of Laudato Si’ and the legacy of Pope Francis’ social teaching on ecology.

In the chapter, “A Theological and Eco-Social Response to the Climate Crisis” Professor Celia Deane-Drummond, director of the institute, highlights that Catholic Social Teaching on the Common Good now encompasses justice between generations and applauds environmental defenders who place their lives at risk protecting the natural world.

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