Pope Leo condemns critics who ignore 'increasingly evident' signs of climate change
Pope Leo XIV has taken aim at those who "deride" signs of climate change as the Vatican marks 10 years since the publication of a landmark document making climate change one of the church's concerns.
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The Pope was speaking at the Raising Hope for Climate Justice conference in Castel Gondolfo near Rome when he made the remarks criticising people who "ridicule those who speak of global warming".
10 years ago, Pope Francis published Laudato Si', a landmark document that draws attention to climate change and the challenge to bring "the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development."
He went on to appeal for "a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet".
Pope Leo has now raised his own concerns about climate change and those who are critical of it.
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He said: "Some have chosen to deride the increasingly evident signs of climate change, to ridicule those who speak of global warming, and even to blame the poor for the very thing that affects them the most."
His comments come after US President Donald Trump used his speech at the United Nations General Assembly to criticise climate change, calling it the "greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world".
The President went on to say that the carbon footprint is a "hoax made up by people with evil intentions, and they're heading down a path of total destruction."
In Laudato Si', Pope Francis draws upon principles from the Judaeo-Christian tradition to encourage a commitment to the environment, as well as scientific research to highlight the impact that climate change has on the world.
The paper touches on pollution, water, biodiversity loss, global inequality, and the decline in the quality of human life.
Whilst speaking on Wednesday, Pope Leo urged citizens to put greater pressure on politicians and to take an active role in political decisions to mitigate "the damage done to the environment".
He added: "God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created for the benefit of all and for future generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters - what will be our answer, my dear friends?"
“We cannot love God, whom we cannot see, while despising his creatures. Nor can we call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ without participating in his outlook on creation and his care for all that is fragile and wounded,”