‘Climate change is one of the most serious and worrying phenomena of our time’

In video message, Pope Francis warns world leaders at the UN summit that time is running out and urges them to take more decisive action

Pictured left: Greta Thunberg, the 16-years-old climate activist from Sweden, attends the 2019 Climate Action Summit in New York.  (Photo by EPA-EFE/Justin Lane/MaxPPP)

Following is the full text of Pope Francis’ Sept. 23 video message to participants at the UN summit at UN Headquarters in New York.

According to its website, the goal of the U.N. Climate Action Summit is to “ensure the global focus on climate gains momentum” as well as to make sure that “there is scrutiny on the investments countries are making in fossil fuels vs. renewables.”

Video Message of His Holiness Pope Francis to Participants at the UN Climate Action Summit 2019

I would like to thank the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr António Guterres, for convening this meeting and for drawing the attention of Heads of State and Government – and of the entire international community and world public opinion – to one of the most serious and worrying phenomena of our time: climate change.

With the Paris Agreement of 12 December 2015, the international community became aware of the urgency and need for a collective response to help build our common home. However, four years after that historic Agreement, we can see that the commitments made by States are still very “weak”, and are far from achieving the objectives set.

Along with so many initiatives, not only by governments but by civil society as a whole, it is necessary to ask whether there is a real political will to allocate greater human, financial and technological resources to mitigate the negative effects of climate change and to help the poorest and most vulnerable populations, who suffer the most.

With honesty, responsibility and courage we have to put our intelligence “at the service of another type of progress, one which is healthier, more human, more social, more integral” (Laudato si’, 112), capable of placing economy at the service of the human person, building peace and protecting the environment.

While the situation is not good and the planet is suffering, the window of opportunity is still open. We are still in time. Let us not let it close

I would like these three key words – honesty, courage and responsibility – to be at the heart of your work today and tomorrow. May they accompany you together with my best wishes and with my prayer.

Thank you very much.

Published on the La Croix International website