The call to the heart of Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo XIV blessed a block of ice from Greenland, symbol of the fragility of the earth: it is one of the strong images of the “celebration of hope” which opened, Wednesday, October 1, in Castel Gondolfo, the three days of meetings and conferences dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Laudato encyclical Si. No candles in the room but a thousand guests Brazil Marina Silva (which will host COP 30 in November on the climate), the negotiator of the Paris Agreement Laurence Tubiana or the former actor and governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Speaking just after his American compatriot, François’s successor praised the astonishing fertility of encyclical, “which gave birth to reflection groups, academic programs in schools and universities, partnerships and projects of different kinds on all continents”. Pope Leo XIV then recalled how the stake today is first of all for him of spiritual nature. He invited the participants, mainly from the Laudato movement if to address themselves at the heart of their contemporaries, a heart which in the scriptures, “is not only the center of feelings and emotions, but the place of freedom”. “It is only by returning to the heart that a real ecological conversion can take place. We must move from the collection of data to care, and from environmental discourse to ecological conversion which transforms both personal and community lifestyles”.

Mobilize Catholics for COP 30

Organized a month and a week from opening the COP 30 on the climate in Bélem, in the Brazilian Amazon, this birthday ceremony was also intended to mobilize Catholics alongside other religions and spiritualities to weigh in the result of this summit.

The churches of the global south, whose members suffer first from the impacts of climate change, were particularly represented. During a remarkable intervention, Cardinal Jaime Spengler, president of the Latino American and Caribbean episcopal conference (CEMM), spoke of the very important work carried out in local communities to prepare this major world meeting. “It is a multilateralism that has been built since the base in a time of crisis of multilateralism of the powerful” before launching: “without climate justice, no peace. Without ecological conversion, no future”.