VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis on Thursday called on world leaders to heed the Earth’s “chorus of cries of anguish” stemming from climate change, extreme weather and loss of biodiversity.
In a message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, he urged nations to confront climate change with the same attention as global challenges like wars and health crises, saying global warming hurts poor and indigenous populations the most.
Francis said rich countries have an “ecological debt” because it is they who have caused the most environmental pollution over the past two centuries, marring nature’s song.
“Tragically, that sweet song is accompanied by a cry of anguish. Or even better: a chorus of cries of anguish. In the first place, it is our sister, mother earth, who cries out. Prey to our consumerist excesses, she weeps and implores us to put an end to our abuses and to her destruction,” he wrote.
Emergency services have battled wildfires across swathes of southern Europe amid a brutal heatwaves this week, prompting warnings that the fight against climate change needed to be stepped up.
The appeal came a few days before the pope is due to leave for a trip to Canada, where he will meet with indigenous people in Iqaluit in the Canadian arctic, which is one of the fastest-warming parts of North America.
“Exposed to the climate crisis, the poor feel even more gravely the impact of the drought, flooding, hurricanes and heat waves that are becoming ever more intense and frequent,” Francis said.
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