CAFOD welcomes Laudato Deum: Pope Francis' rallying call for action on climate crisis

Christine Allen

Source: CAFOD

CAFOD has welcomed Pope Francis' new teaching Laudato Deum released today, describing it as a "rousing call to action" on the climate crisis.

In the eagerly anticipated follow-up to his 2015 landmark encyclical Laudato Si', Pope Francis questions what has been achieved in the past eight years and what progress still needs to be made.

Pope Francis is direct in his condemnation of profit at any cost, and of the desperation of the situation: "we are now unable to halt the enormous damage we have caused. We barely have time to prevent even more tragic damage" (LD:16). Laudate Deum is the first time the phrase "climate crisis" has appeared in an encyclical or exhortation.

Laudate Deum looks at the reality of the climate crisis today, the weakness of international policy regarding the climate crisis ("with the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate" - LD:2), calls for real commitment to the planet at the next climate conference in Dubai, and discusses the spiritual motivations for such a fight.

Christine Allen, Director at Catholic aid agency CAFOD, says: "As Pope Francis reminds us, human beings and the earth are not replaceable commodities. We are interdependent and connected. Yet we continue to put greed over and above our love for each other or for our planet. We echo his calls for measures that will help to re-balance our world: including phasing out all fossil fuels and investing in clean energy sources.

"World leaders - including the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - cannot shirk their responsibility to the millions around the world who have contributed least to the heating of our planet. Instead of making hundreds of trips in private jets, politicians in wealthy countries must lead the way: facing up to our historic responsibility as a major polluter, and providing more financial and technical support for communities to respond to the effects of climate change."

Ahead of COP28 in Dubai next month, Laudate Deum holds world leaders and industry giants to account, questioning what has been achieved over the last decade. Laudate Deum says that prior Climate Conferences have had a low level of implementation as personal interests are privileged over the common good, appealing to politicians "may they demonstrate the nobility of politics and not its shame" (LD: 60).

"Not enough progress has been made since the Pope's groundbreaking encyclical Laudato Si'. The effects of climate change and loss of biodiversity have hit the poorest the hardest," said Christine Allen.

The publication of Laudate Deum is extraordinary in its commentary of the different international Conference of the Parties (COP) with a very specific call to action at COP28: "If there is sincere interest in making COP28 a historic event that honours and ennobles us as human beings, then one can only hope for binding forms of energy transition" (LD:59).

CAFOD, the official overseas aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, works at the frontline of climate crises and conflict in over 40 countries.

As Laudate Deum says: "How can we forget that Africa, home to more than half of the world's poorest people, is responsible for a minimal portion of historic emissions?" (LD: 9)

Isacko Molu, Director of Caritas Marsabit in Kenya, a partner of CAFOD, says: "In northern Kenya we are seeing just what happens when world leaders fail to reduce carbon emissions. A painful and prolonged drought - the region's worst in over 40 years - is forcing people from their homes and land. We can't afford more dithering or delays by world leaders.

"Pope Francis inspires us in our work and is right to lambast the determined work of humans to damage creation. The lands I grew up in as the son of a pastoral farmer are no longer recognisable: baren and dry, they - and the communities who relied upon them - are just some of those who have lost out from the greed and indecision of world leaders."

CAFOD is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and part of Caritas International. The agency work in more than 40 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Communities they work with are witnessing the everyday impact of the climate crisis, with extreme weather patterns, drought, flooding and cyclones affecting millions of vulnerable people every year.

LINK

CAFOD: www.cafod.org.uk