Announces ‘Pope Recommendation’ and urges UN to take action
Pope Francis warned on the 4th (local time), “The world we live in is collapsing due to climate change and is approaching a breaking point.”
AFP news agency and others reported that the Pope announced the ‘Apostolic Exhortation’ on this day, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, as a follow-up measure to the ecological encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ promulgated in 2015. An encyclical is the highest form of document issued by the Pope.
“Signs of climate change are becoming more and more evident despite attempts to deny, conceal or gloss over the problem,” the Pope said in his advisory.
“In recent years we have witnessed extreme weather events, unusual heat waves, droughts and other cries of protest across our planet – these are just a few clear manifestations of the silent disease that affects us all. “It cannot be ignored,” he added.
The Pope emphasized that “certain human-induced climate changes are significantly increasing the likelihood of increasingly frequent and intense extreme events.”
“As the world we live in crumbles and approaches its breaking point, we realize that our response has not been sufficient,” the Pope said.
This is felt in a variety of areas, from forced migration and healthcare to housing, access to resources and employment, it said.
The Pope also urged the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on November 30 to agree on a binding policy for phasing out fossil fuels.
“We look forward to COP28 decisively accelerating the energy transition by implementing effective commitments through ongoing monitoring,” he said.
“I hope that the participants of the conference will become strategists who consider the common interest and the future of our children rather than the short-term interests of specific countries or companies,” the Pope said. “The conference is binding if it meets three conditions: it is efficient, mandatory and easily monitorable.” “It must lead to a transition to existing forms of energy,” he said.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.