Pope Leo XIV delivered a powerful video message to bishops and cardinals gathered in Belém, Brazil for COP30, calling the Church to lead with humility, courage, and unity as the world confronts intensifying environmental crises. The message was addressed especially to prelates from the Global South, whose communities often bear the brunt of climate instability.
According to Vatican News, the Pope praised the “prophetic voice” of the cardinals representing Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, noting that they have been “telling the world with words and gestures that the Amazon region remains a living symbol of creation with an urgent need for care.”
The Holy Father commended the bishops for choosing action over despair. “You chose hope and action over despair, building a global community that works together,” he said, as reported by Vatican News. But he warned that current efforts remain insufficient. Progress exists, he acknowledged, yet “not enough,” urging bishops that “hope and determination must be renewed, not only in words and aspirations, but also in concrete actions.”
The Pope described the earth’s distress with stark clarity. Drawing attention to the increasing disasters impacting poorer nations most severely, he said, “Creation is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat,” noting that “one in three people live in great vulnerability because of these climate changes.” To overlook these suffering communities, he warned, is to “deny our shared humanity,” according to Vatican News.
Pope Leo also addressed the urgency of global commitments to the Paris Agreement. While calling it “our strongest tool for protecting people and the planet,” he cautioned that the crisis lies not in the treaty itself but in human failure. “It is not the Agreement that is failing, we are failing in our response. What is failing is the political will of some,” he said. True leadership, the Pope added, must be rooted in sacrificial service and global solidarity. “Stronger climate actions will create stronger and fairer economic systems,” he affirmed.
Across his message, Pope Leo underscored the Church’s spiritual and moral responsibility. As stewards of God’s creation, he told the bishops, Christians must act decisively: “We are called to act swiftly, with faith and prophecy, to protect the gift He entrusted to us.” And he reminded them that believers are “guardians of creation, not rivals for its spoils,” according to Vatican News.
The Pope encouraged all delegates to send a unified global message of resolve and fraternity. He urged them to stand in “unwavering solidarity behind the Paris Agreement and behind climate cooperation.” He expressed hope that the site of the gathering, the Museum of the Amazonias, would be remembered as the place “where humanity chose cooperation over division and denial.”
Following the videomessage, cardinals from the Global South presented a symbolic gift: a fishing net woven by indigenous Amazonian communities, echoing the gesture made to Pope Francis during the 2019 Synod for the Amazon. According to Vatican News, the net was offered as a sign of unity and peace—an emblem of what Pope Leo has repeatedly asked the world to embrace.
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