Three prominent cardinals from the Global South have issued a compelling call for decisive international action on climate change, warning of the dire consequences that await if the status quo is maintained.
Three influential cardinals from the Global South presented a significant document at the Vatican on Tuesday, urging for bold international measures on climate change. The call to action comes ahead of COP30, the 30th United Nations climate summit, scheduled to take place in November in Brazil.
“Our message today is not diplomatic — it is pastoral,” stated Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, archbishop of Goa, India, and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. “It is a call to conscience in the face of a system that threatens to devour creation.” Ferrão was joined by Cardinal Jaime Spengler, archbishop of Porto Alegre, Brazil, and president of the Latin American Bishops’ Conference, and Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo, and president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar.
The document, titled “A Call for Climate Justice and the Common Home: Ecological Conversion, Transformation and Resistance to False Solutions,” was crafted by bishops, activists, and climate experts from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Addressed to world leaders, its release coincides with the 10th anniversary of both Pope Francis’ “green” encyclical, “Laudato Si’,” and the 195-nation Paris Agreement on climate change.
Pope Leo XIV, who endorsed the document and met with its authors, reflects a commitment to continuing his predecessor’s environmental legacy. The document describes the climate crisis as an existential issue of justice, dignity, and care for the world shared by all peoples.
“There is no climate justice without ecological conversion,” Cardinal Spengler remarked. “We need to move from consumption to sacrifice, from greed to generosity, from waste to sharing — from ‘I want’ to what God’s world needs.”
The churches of the Global South vowed to educate Catholics on environment-related issues and collaborate with nations at both local and global levels. They also called for a “historic coalition” between the Global South and North to address debt and advance justice.
“It is necessary for the advanced countries to recognize their historical and ecological debt as perpetrators of greenhouse emissions and resource extraction,” Ferrão emphasized.
The document references studies projecting that North America and Europe will have accumulated $192 trillion in ecological debt — an assessment involving past resource exploitation and historical emission contributions — by 2050. This contrasts with the estimated $2 trillion annually extracted from current Global South resources. The U.N. has noted the significant funds required for climate adaptation efforts. Furthermore, the document cautioned that regions in the Global South, which have contributed the least to climate change, bear its most severe consequences.
Cardinal Ambongo expressed a heartfelt appeal regarding the many Africans afflicted by climate change impacts. “Africa wants to live. Africa wants to breathe — and to contribute to justice for all humanity,” he stated.
Pope Francis previously championed the idea of “happy sobriety,” advocating for wealthier nations to relinquish excess and assume shared climate responsibility. His vision drew inspiration from indigenous values of “buen vivir,” or good living, which promote environmental harmony — values embraced by climate activists and institutions.
“If the Global North is not willing to make sacrifices, we will not advance in this matter. There is a price to pay,” Spengler warned, highlighting the need for wealthy countries to make “bold decisions” to prevent future generations from bearing high costs.
On another note, the document castigated “elites of power” for maintaining a “denialist and apathetic stance” on climate change. Spengler stressed that despite opposition from certain world leaders, Catholics must “promote conscience, education, and have the courage of prophetically declaring what we can and must do and not have fear.”
It also criticized the inequalities fostered by “green capitalism” — policies masked as environmentally beneficial but which ultimately enrich only a select few. The churches proposed a decentralized approach to renewable energy policies, aiming to benefit local communities and especially addressing the needs of the impoverished.
The cardinals urged Pope Leo to represent the Church at the upcoming COP30 summit in Brazil. However, during their meeting with him on Tuesday, he had not committed to attending. “We want the forthcoming COP30 to be not just another event, but a moral turning point,” Ferrão expressed.
Later in November, Leo is anticipated to visit Nicea, Turkey, to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the first ecumenical council.
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