From Rome to Boston: Vatican joins Mass. leaders in climate fight

Boston Globe

27-03-2025

Amid the hedges and waterfalls overlooking St. Peter's Basilica, they signed a unified call to action committing Massachusetts to respond flexibly to the climate crisis — and shook hands with Pope Francis.
A year later, it is the Vatican's turn to come to Massachusetts (although the pope himself will not be visiting). At
The Vatican's 'bottom-up' climate strategy centers on localized, inter-community dialogue. Its mission consists of two parts. First, Vatican representatives will organize and attend conferences across the globe,
like ResilientMass. These summits will focus on communities spanning from California to the Amazon Rainforest and the Congo River Basin.
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At each of these conferences, local leaders will come together and discuss how their communities are being affected by climate change. Impacts are diverse. In Massachusetts, towns like Easthampton grapple with flooding. In California, residents face wildfires. In Brazil, deforestation.
When these summits are complete, scholars from the Pontifical Academies will gather again in the Vatican Gardens in 2026 to share their findings. They hope to stitch insights together from each locality to create
a master plan for 'locally engaged global work' on climate resilience, according to the Vatican's website.
LaChapelle said she was drawn to the ResilientMass conference because of how it highlights local solutions.
'The focus on local government being the frontline responders is a perspective that sings a very specific song in every mayor's heart,' she said. 'That really drew me to the work that was being done here.'
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No one understands the impacts of climate threats like local leaders, LaChapelle said.
'I'm looking at the rain outside my window right now and watching a nearby pond, and I can tell you with near certainty that two roads will be closed by the time I go home tonight because of the flooding,' she said.
Easthampton has been struggling with worsening floods. LaChapelle recounted a particularly damaging flood from two years ago. 'We lost almost 70 percent of our planted fields,' she said. 'We were stunned.'
But Massachusetts leaders pulled together to help Easthampton. '
literally came out and stood in the muddy silt in the middle of fields just planted for spring crop, along with other mayors,' LaChapelle said. 'They looked at the damage and why it was so novel, how we aren't prepared, and put together a resiliency fund.'
At the ResilientMass conference, LaChapelle wants to build on those partnerships. She said she looks forward to connecting with local organizations like the Connecticut River Watershed Association and discussing ways to respond flexibly to floods.
Like Easthampton, Boston has its own hopes for Thursday's conference. Oliver Sellers-Garcia, Boston's
'Every single person, no matter how important they were, we all turned to each other and were like, 'This is so cool,'' he said. 'Very few people [beyond the pope] are able to convene leaders from around the world and have all of them react in that way.'
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During the Vatican's summit last spring, Wu mingled with some of the most powerful mayors in the world — among them, Mayor Sadiq Khan of London, Mayor Ana María Hidalgo Aleu of Paris, and Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka of Yokohama, Japan. They talked about their cities' struggles with climate-related disasters, and Wu even went on to partner with Khan on several projects bridging Boston and London.
At ResilientMass, Sellers-Garcia hopes to forge similar partnerships closer to home. He wants Boston to help — and learn from — smaller cities across Massachusetts as the state faces climate-related disasters.
'We are a city that has a lot to teach, but we sure haven't solved all our problems, and we're just as vulnerable as many other places,' he said.
Ultimately, the mission to help vulnerable communities is what drives the Vatican's commitment to climate action, said UMass Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco and climate scientist Veerabhadran Ramanathan. These two academics are serving as a bridge between the Pontifical Academies and Massachusetts' government.
Climate resilience has been a major cause for Pope Francis for years. Suárez-Orozco and Ramanathan pointed to 'Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home,' a 2015 Encyclical Letter written by the pope. The letter stresses the theological, philosophical, and scientific reasons for caring about — and working to save — the warming climate.
The need for climate action stretches back to the Christian imperative to care for 'the needs of the poor, the weak and the vulnerable,' Pope Francis wrote in this letter. He included not only people affected by climate change but also the animals, plants, and broader ecosystems.
Suárez-Orozco stressed that the Pontifical Academies' work is scientific, not theological. Still, each member of ResilientMass that was interviewed — from Suárez-Orozco to Massachusetts leaders like Sellers-Garcia and LaChapelle — believed the Vatican's religious character brings a unique, valuable perspective to the climate movement.
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'Regardless of whether you are a believer or not, or what religion you're in, you understand the moral imperative that the Vatican — that this pope in particular — brings to these issues,' Sellers-Garcia said.
Ramanathan has found religion useful to him as a climate scientist, saying it provides 'the most politically neutral forum for scientists like Marcelo [Suárez-Orozco] and I to discuss, unpack, and talk about human suffering.'
And, though Easthampton Mayor LaChapelle was initially surprised by Massachusetts' partnership with the Vatican, she has come around to it.
'I think the unique perspective the Vatican brings is one of compassion and justice,' LaChapelle said. 'I'm grateful to have that perspective.'
Adelaide Parker can be reached at