In a video released by the Vatican, the pontiff said that the Paris Agreement ‘has driven real progress and remains our most powerful tool to protect people and the planet’
This Monday (17) he called on global leaders to adopt “concrete actions” in the face of the worsening climate crisis and lamented the lack of “political will on the part of some” governments. The statement was made in a video message addressed to religious leaders gathered on the sidelines of , in .
In the recording, released by the Vatican, the pontiff stated that the Paris Agreement “has driven real progress and remains our most powerful tool to protect people and the planet.” However, he considered that the problem is not in the agreement itself, but in the countries’ insufficient response. “What is failing is the political will of some,” he declared.
Leo XIV also highlighted the urgency of preserving the Amazon, which he described as a “living symbol of creation with an urgent need for care”. The pope warned of the impacts already felt by the most vulnerable populations. “Creation cries out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat. One in three people lives in great vulnerability due to these changes,” he said. “For them, climate change is not a distant threat. To ignore these people is to deny our shared humanity.”
The pontiff reinforced that it is still possible to limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5°C, but warned that “the window is closing”. Official UN negotiations enter their final phase this week, with countries still divided over decisive points. The Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, returned to the center of debates after the President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced for the second time the country’s withdrawal from the pact, which seeks to keep global warming below 2°C and, preferably, 1.5°C.
Since his election in May, Leo XIV — born in Chicago and with nearly two decades of missionary work in Peru — has advocated for governments to take bold steps to address climate change.
*With information from AFP
