His Holiness Pope Francis : Nations must work together to adapt to climate change

His Holiness Pope Francis sends a message to participants in a Vatican conference on resilience and climate change, and urges all nations to work together to reduce carbon emissions and help people adapt to climate change.

By Devin Watkins

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is hosting a two-day conference at the Vatican’s Casino Pio IV, on 13-14 July, focusing on the theme: “Resilience of People and Ecosystems under Climate Stress”.

As the event kicked off on Wednesday, Pope Francis sent his greetings to participants, and encouraged their efforts to discuss the environmental crisis.

“The phenomenon of climate change has become an emergency that no longer remains at the margins of society. Instead, it has assumed a central place, reshaping not only industrial and agricultural systems but also adversely affecting the global human family, especially the poor and those living on the economic peripheries of our world.”

The Pope said the world is facing the twin challenges of “lessening climate risks by reducing emissions” and of “assisting and enabling people to adapt to progressively worsening changes to the climate”.

These challenges require everyone to come up with a multi-dimensional approach to protect people and the planet, he added.

International cooperation on climate issues

Pope Francis made reference to his oft-repeated call for an “ecological conversion”, saying this process requires everyone to be grateful for God’s Creation, to live in communion with one another, and to work together to deal with environmental problems.

“Courageous, cooperative and far-sighted efforts among religious, political, social and cultural leaders on local, national and international levels are needed in order to find concrete solutions to the severe and increasing problems we are facing.”…

This report was originally published on Vatican News website. Please click here to read the full text.