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🗞️ Driving the news: Pope Francis released an Apostolic Exhortation titled "Praise God" on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, emphasizing the urgent need for global action on climate change and environmental degradation, and defending climate protesters
• Pope Francis has urged the wealthy nations to make substantial changes in addressing the climate crisis, cautioning against excessive reliance on emerging technologies like carbon capture and storage, likening it to pushing a snowball down a hill

🔭 The context: The Pope delves into the current state of the environment, highlighting the interconnectedness of all living beings and the environment, and emphasizes the necessity of a social approach to ecological problems, integrating justice into environmental debates
• His earlier encyclical, "Laudato Si," was issued in 2015, just ahead of the historic COP21 climate summit, where the Paris Agreement was signed, and it achieved unparalleled readership

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Exploring biblical foundations, the Pope stresses the intrinsic value of all living beings and the environment and calls for a new way of thinking that recognizes humanity's responsibility to cultivate and protect the world

⏭️ What's next: Pope Francis calls for a shift away from the dominant technocratic paradigm and emphasizes the importance of integral ecology, collective involvement, and a responsible approach to our relationship with nature to address the ecological crisis
• He also highlights the need for stronger international politics, multilateral agreements, and a broader perspective at climate conferences, expressing hope for the next COP28 to become a turning point for an accelerated energy transition

💬 One quote: “I warmly welcome the Holy Father’s new exhortation. He reminds us to use the three human languages he has identified for us – head, heart and hands – to protect nature and to protect the most vulnerable of our societies” (Christiana Figueres, former UN climate chief who led the Paris agreement)

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