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🗞️ Driving the news: Pope Leo XIV has issued a strong call for global climate action, urging faith communities and civil society to pressure governments into implementing stricter environmental protections
• Speaking at the “Raising Hope for Climate Justice” conference at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope declared that harming nature is incompatible with Christian values, emphasizing the need for both personal and structural ecological conversion
🔭 The context: The speech marks Pope Leo’s first major environmental intervention since his election in May 2025 and comes ten years after Laudato si’, Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical on ecology
• That document, which helped shape moral framing ahead of COP21, linked ecological destruction with social injustice and mobilized faith-based movements like the Laudato si’ Movement
• Leo’s remarks come ahead of COP30 in Brazil, which he referenced directly as a moment to “listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.”
🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Pope Leo’s address reaffirms the Vatican’s leadership in faith-driven climate advocacy, at a time of renewed global division on environmental policy
• By calling out climate denial and inaction, and by quoting Laudate Deum on the need to move from “collecting data to caring,” Leo is positioning moral accountability as essential to climate governance
• His influence could galvanize religious constituencies globally, potentially bridging divides where political consensus fails
⏭️ What's next: The Vatican’s new ecological center at Castel Gandolfo will serve as a hub for environmental education and interfaith collaboration
• Pope Leo is expected to deepen engagement with upcoming international forums, including COP30 in November
• His comments also set a moral counterpoint to U.S. political rhetoric, notably following former President Donald Trump's recent denialist speech at the UN
• As the Catholic Church reiterates its climate stance, it could intensify calls for faith-aligned climate policy across multiple national contexts
💬 One quote: "God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created for the benefit of all and for future generations … What will be our answer?" – Pope Leo XIV
📈 One stat: 1 in 6 people globally now belong to a faith-based group with a stated climate action agenda, a figure that has risen sharply since Laudato si’'s release in 2015
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