Bishops' conferences and councils appeal for ecological conversion
File photo of a dried lake in Malawi (AFP or licensors)
By Isabella H. de CarvalhoThe regional bishops' conferences and councils from Asia, Africa, and Central and South America, in coordination with the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, have joined forces to appeal for climate justice and an ecological conversion across the world.
In light of the United Nations' climate change conference COP30, which will take place in Belém, Brazil, from November 10 to 21, 2025, these bodies have published a joint document titled 'A call for climate justice and the common home: ecological conversion, transformation and resistance to false solutions', which was presented today, July 1, during a press conference at the Holy See Press Office. It was also shown to Pope Leo XIV earlier in the day. The document reiterates the Church's commitment to climate justice and calls nations and governments to action, inspired by the Pontiff's call to promote an integral ecology, and in line with Francis' encyclical Laudato Si', which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary.
A call to conscience
'Our message today is not diplomatic; it is eminently pastoral. It is a call to conscience in the face of a system that threatens to devour creation, as if the planet were just another commodity,' said Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, Archbishop of Goa and Damao in India, and President of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC). Alongside him at the press conference were Cardinal Jaime Spengler, Archbishop of Porto Alegre (Brazil), President of the Brazilian bishops' conference (CNBB) and the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM); Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, Archbishop of Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM); and Emlice Cuda, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
'As missionary apostles of an outgoing synodal Church, we will go to COP30 to build peace in the midst of this war in pieces against creation, where many are dying and will die even more if we do not act now,' Cuda said. 'We do so because, as Pope Leo XIV says, the Church 'always seeks to be close, especially to those who suffer''.
From the Amazon to Africa, the Church raises its voice
'I am raising a voice that is not mine alone, but that of the Amazonian peoples, of the martyrs of the land - we could say of the climate -, and of the riverside, indigenous, Afro-descendant, peasant and urban communities', Cardinal Spengler said in his speech, speaking from the perspective of Latin America. 'There is an urgent need to become aware of the need for changes in lifestyle, production and consumption'. He for example denounced the 'masking' of economic interests under names such as 'green capitalism' or 'transition economy' or the opening of new oil wells in the Amazon and emphasized the Church rejects mechanisms such as the 'financialization of nature'
Similarly, Cardinal Ambongo spoke 'in the name of the Churches of the African continent,' which has been 'impoverished by centuries of extractivism, slavery and exploitation'. He highlighted how the race to exploit minerals is at the 'origin of the proliferation of armed groups' and called for 'an economy that is not based on the sacrifice of African populations to enrich others'. 'Africa wants to contribute to a future of justice and peace for all mankind', he insisted. 'We say enough is enough, enough of false solutions, enough of decisions taken without listening to those on the front line of climate collapse'.
From the point of view of the Asian continent, Cardinal Ferrao explained that 'millions of people are already living the devastating effects of climate change: typhoons, forced migration, loss of islands, pollution of rivers' while 'false solutions are advancing: mega infrastructures, displacement for "clean" energy that does not respect human dignity, and soulless mining in the name of green batteries'. 'Rich countries ought to recognise and pay their ecological debt, without continuing to indebt the Global South,' he said, adding that the Church wants to promote alternatives such as 'educational programmes,' 'new economic pathways' or the 'accompaniment of women and girls' who are often most affected. --Vatican News
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