In BBC message, Pope Francis says UN climate summit must offer ‘effective responses’ to ecological crisis.
Pope Francis on Friday urged participants in a crunch United Nations climate summit in Scotland to offer “effective responses” to the global ecological crisis.
On the eve of the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, the pope made the appeal on BBC Radio 4’s flagship “Today” morning news program.
He said: “The political decision-makers who will meet at COP26 in Glasgow are urgently summoned to provide effective responses to the present ecological crisis and in this way to offer concrete hope to future generations.”
“And it is worth repeating that each of us — whoever and wherever we may be — can play our own part in changing our collective response to the unprecedented threat of climate change and the degradation of our common home.” It is the first time that Pope Francis has recorded a special message for the British Broadcasting Corp., the U.K.’s national broadcaster.
He is the second pope to deliver a reflection in the “Thought for the Day” slot on BBC Radio 4. The first was Benedict XVI, who recorded a Christmas message in 2010, following his four-day visit to Britain in September that year.
In his reflection, the pope recalled meeting with religious leaders and scientists at the Vatican on Oct. 4 to sign a joint appeal urging countries to “achieve net-zero carbon emissions as soon as possible.”
Speaking in Italian with an English voiceover, he said: “I was impressed by something said by one of the scientists present at that meeting. He told us: ‘If things continue as they are, in 50 years’ time my baby granddaughter will have to live in an unlivable world.’ We cannot allow this to happen!”
“It is essential that each of us be committed to this urgent change of direction, sustained by our own faith and spirituality.”
Francis has sought to galvanize efforts to protect the environment since his election in 2013. He issued the encyclical Laudato si’ in 2015, ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris, which negotiated the Paris Agreement.
The Glasgow summit, taking place on Oct. 31-Nov. 12, will encourage governments to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Pope Francis was initially expected to attend. But the Vatican indicated earlier this month that he would not be present. The Vatican’s delegation will be led by Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
