Latest news with #climateJustice
Washington Post
09-07-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Pope celebrates first 'green' Mass using new rite in sign of strong ecological focus
ROME — Pope Leo XIV celebrated what has been dubbed as the first 'green' papal Mass, using a new set of prayers imploring care for God's creation in a sign he intends to emphasize environmental stewardship and climate justice for the world's most vulnerable people. The Mass, in the gardens of the Vatican's new ecological educational center at the papal summer estate in Castel Gandolfo, indicated a strong line of ecological continuity with Pope Francis , who made environmental protection a hallmark of his pontificate.
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Protesters demand debt cancellation, climate action ahead of UN summit
By David Latona and Silvio Castellanos SEVILLE, Spain (Reuters) -Activists marched in blistering heat through southern Spain's Seville on Sunday, calling for debt cancellation, climate justice and taxing the super rich on the eve of a UN summit on financing development that critics say lacks ambition and scope. The four-day meeting - held once every decade - promises to take on poverty, disease and climate change by mapping out the global framework for development. But the United States' decision to pull out and wealthy countries' shrinking appetite for foreign aid have dampened hopes that the summit will bring about significant change. Greenpeace members carried a float depicting billionaire Elon Musk as a baby wielding a chainsaw, seated atop a terrestrial globe. Others held up banners reading "Make Human Rights Great Again", "Tax justice now" or "Make polluters pay". Beauty Narteh of Ghana's Anti-Corruption Coalition said her group wanted a fairer tax system and "dignity, not handouts". Sokhna Ndiaye, of the Africa Development Interchange Network, called on the public and private sectors to be "less selfish and show more solidarity" with developing countries. Hours earlier, however, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that "the very fact that this conference is happening while conflict is raging across the globe is a reason to be hopeful". Speaking at an event by non-profit Global Citizen, Sanchez reiterated Madrid's commitment to reach 0.7% of GDP in development aid and urged other countries to do the same. Jason Braganza, executive director of pan-African advocacy group AFRODAD who took part in the year-long negotiation on the conference's final outcome document, said countries including the U.S., the European Union and Britain had obstructed efforts to organise a UN convention on sovereign debt. "It's a shame these countries have opted to protect their own interests and those of creditors over lives that are being lost," he added.
Reuters
29-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Protesters demand debt cancellation, climate action ahead of UN summit
SEVILLE, Spain, June 29 (Reuters) - Activists marched in blistering heat through southern Spain's Seville on Sunday, calling for debt cancellation, climate justice and taxing the super rich on the eve of a UN summit on financing development that critics say lacks ambition and scope. The four-day meeting - held once every decade - promises to take on poverty, disease and climate change by mapping out the global framework for development. But the United States' decision to pull out, opens new tab and wealthy countries' shrinking appetite for foreign aid have dampened hopes that the summit will bring about significant change. Greenpeace members carried a float depicting billionaire Elon Musk as a baby wielding a chainsaw, seated atop a terrestrial globe. Others held up banners reading "Make Human Rights Great Again", "Tax justice now" or "Make polluters pay". Beauty Narteh of Ghana's Anti-Corruption Coalition said her group wanted a fairer tax system and "dignity, not handouts". Sokhna Ndiaye, of the Africa Development Interchange Network, called on the public and private sectors to be "less selfish and show more solidarity" with developing countries. Hours earlier, however, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that "the very fact that this conference is happening while conflict is raging across the globe is a reason to be hopeful". Speaking at an event by non-profit Global Citizen, Sanchez reiterated Madrid's commitment to reach 0.7% of GDP in development aid and urged other countries to do the same. Jason Braganza, executive director of pan-African advocacy group AFRODAD who took part in the year-long negotiation on the conference's final outcome document, opens new tab, said countries including the U.S., the European Union and Britain had obstructed efforts to organise a UN convention on sovereign debt. "It's a shame these countries have opted to protect their own interests and those of creditors over lives that are being lost," he added.
CTV News
11-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Cardinal with close ties to Pope Leo XIV travels to Canada to support peaceful G7 activists
A Peruvian cardinal who worked closely with Pope Leo XIV for years will be stopping in Calgary to support peaceful demonstrators as world leaders gather next week for the G7 summit in Alberta. Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, 81, hopes to help draw attention to what he calls an 'ecological debt' crisis. While Barreto doesn't plan to join protests, he said he will be supporting peaceful activists' call for change. According to Barreto and organizers from Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada, the group that invited the cardinal to Canada, ecological debt refers to the debt owed to poorer nations and Indigenous communities resulting from damage caused by some companies from developed countries like Canada. This damage includes oil spills and pollution from mines. Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada, the official humanitarian aid agency of the Canadian Catholic Church, invited the cardinal to support peaceful activists in their campaign to call on G7 world leaders to prioritize the protection of the planet and poor communities. Ahead of a speech before dozens of people at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto on Monday, Barreto spoke with through an interpreter about ecological debt. 'It's a very large injustice that the World Bank recognizes,' the Spanish-speaking cardinal said. He pointed to a World Bank 2023 debt report that found developing countries spent a record US$1.4 trillion servicing their foreign debt, as interest costs soared to a 20-year high of $406 billion. For many countries, this move would cut budgets in areas such as health and education. Barreto hopes developed countries like Canada will recognize their ecological debt to poorer countries. He and other environmental advocates are calling on Canada and other countries to cancel 'unjust and unsustainable debts' and help reform the global financial system. 'My hope, which is the hope of the church, is that the leaders of the northern rich countries will assume their responsibility in this situation,' he said. 'They have a really clear opportunity here to have a change in mentality towards debt.' Direction of Leo papacy Barreto, a Jesuit like Pope Francis, says he, Leo and others in the Catholic Church hope to continue Francis's legacy of emphasizing care for the marginalized and environment. While he didn't vote in the conclave last month — Barreto is older than the 80-year-old cutoff — he said he participated in meetings with cardinals leading up to Leo's election, in which they 'insisted' that the new pope must continue the same path as Francis of looking after the Earth. Cardinal's plans in Calgary The cardinal will be a guest of honour at the G7 Jubilee People's Forum in Calgary from June 12 to 15 before the summit in Kananaskis. Activists and faith communities from across Canada and around the world will gather and participate in talks about ecological debt during the forum. Barreto, metropolitan archbishop emeritus of Huancayo, Peru, is known for his advocacy for the environment and poor in Peru and Latin America. Francis made Barreto a cardinal in 2018. According to The College of Cardinals Report, a website featuring profiles of cardinals compiled by independent Catholic journalists and researchers, Barreto is also known for his 'outspoken generally liberal views on national politics,' even facing death threats for speaking out against a smelter causing pollution that threatened the health of people in the Andes Mountains.
CTV News
10-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Cardinal who worked closely with Pope Leo XIV travels to Canada to support G7 demonstrators
A Peruvian cardinal who worked closely with Pope Leo XIV for years will be stopping in Calgary to support demonstrators as world leaders gather next week for the G7 summit in Alberta. Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, 81, hopes to help draw attention to what he calls an 'ecological debt' crisis. According to Barreto and organizers from Development and Peace and Caritas Canada, the group that invited the cardinal to Canada, ecological debt refers to the debt owed to poorer nations and Indigenous communities resulting from damage caused by some companies from developed countries like Canada. This damage includes oil spills and pollution from mines. Development and Peace and Caritas Canada, the official humanitarian aid agency of the Canadian Catholic Church, invited the cardinal to support demonstrators in their campaign to call on G7 world leaders to prioritize the protection of the planet and poor communities. Ahead of a speech before dozens of people at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto on Monday, Barreto spoke with through an interpreter about ecological debt. 'It's a very large injustice that the World Bank recognizes,' the Spanish-speaking cardinal said. He pointed to a World Bank 2023 debt report that found developing countries spent a record US$1.4 trillion servicing their foreign debt, as interest costs soared to a 20-year high of $406 billion. For many countries, this move would cut budgets in areas such as health and education. Barreto hopes developed countries like Canada will recognize their ecological debt to poorer countries. He and other environmental advocates are calling on Canada and other countries to cancel 'unjust and unsustainable debts' and help reform the global financial system. 'My hope, which is the hope of the church, is that the leaders of the northern rich countries will assume their responsibility in this situation,' he said. 'They have a really clear opportunity here to have a change in mentality towards debt.' Direction of Leo papacy Barreto, a Jesuit like Pope Francis, says he, Leo and others in the Catholic Church hope to continue Francis's legacy of emphasizing care for the marginalized and environment. While he didn't vote in the conclave last month — Barreto is older than the 80-year-old cutoff — he said he participated in meetings with cardinals leading up to Leo's election, in which they 'insisted' that the new pope must continue the same path as Francis of looking after the Earth. Cardinal's plans in Calgary The cardinal will be a guest of honour at the G7 Jubilee People's Forum in Calgary from June 12 to 15 before the summit in Kananaskis. Activists and faith communities from across Canada and around the world will gather and participate in talks about ecological debt during the forum. Barreto, metropolitan archbishop emeritus of Huancayo, Peru, is known for his advocacy for the environment and poor in Peru and Latin America. Francis made Barreto a cardinal in 2018. According to The College of Cardinals Report, a website featuring profiles of cardinals compiled by independent Catholic journalists and researchers, Barreto is also known for his 'outspoken generally liberal views on national politics,' even facing death threats for speaking out against a smelter causing pollution that threatened the health of people in the Andes Mountains.
