Vatican City, 26 October 2015 (VIS) –
This morning in the Holy See Press Office a press conference was held
to present the Appeal by by Cardinals, Patriarchs and Bishops from
across the globe representing the continental groupings of national
episcopal conferences, to the negotiators of the COP 21 in Paris
(Conference of Parties), to be held from 30 November to 11 December
this year. The initiative was promoted by the Pontifical Council
“Justice and Peace”, inspired by the Holy Father's Encyclical
“Laudato si'”.
The speakers were Cardinal Oswald
Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, India, president of the FABC (Asia);
Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop of Bogota, Colombia,
president of the CELAM (Latin America), Archbishop John Ribat of Port
Moresby, Papua New Guinea, president of the Federation of Episcopal
Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO) and Bishop Jean Kockerols of
Mechelen-Brussels, first vice-president of the Commission of the
Episcopates of the European Community (COMECE) and, as special envoy,
Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele de Strihou of the Catholic
University of Leuven, Belgium, former vice-president of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Before the beginning of the Conference,
the Appeal was signed by various representatives of the episcopate
from around the world, in the presence of Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah
Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council “Justice and Peace”,
and His Beatitude Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, O.M.M., Patriarch of
Antioch (Maronites) and president of CCPO (the Council of Catholic
Patriarchs of the East), Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi, C.S.Sp., of
Lubango, Angola, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences
of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Archbishop Richard William Smith of
Edmonton, Canada, former president of the Conference of Catholic
Bishops of Canada, Msgr. Duarte Nuno Queiroz de Barros de Cunha,
general secretary of the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe
and Msgr. Ronny E. Jenkins, general secretary of the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Bernd Nilles, general
secretary of CIDSE (International Alliance of Catholic Development
Agencies).
The appeal is issued by Cardinals,
Patriarchs and Bishops from across the globe representing the
continental groupings of national episcopal conferences and it is
addressed to those negotiating the COP 21 in Paris, calling on them
to work toward the approval of a fair, legally binding and truly
transformational climate agreement.
“Representing the Catholic Church
from the five continents, we Cardinals, Patriarchs and Bishops have
come together to express, on our own behalf and on behalf of the
people for whom we care, the widely-held hope that a just and legally
binding climate agreement will emerge from the negotiations of the
COP 21 in Paris. We advance a ten-point policy proposal, drawing on
the concrete experience of people across the continents, and linking
climate change to social injustice and the social exclusion of the
poorest and most vulnerable of our citizens.
Climate Change: challenges and
opportunities
In his encyclical letter, Laudato si’,
addressed ‘to every person living on this planet’, Pope Francis
claims that ‘climate change represents one of the principal
challenges facing humanity today’. The climate is a common good,
belonging to all and meant for all. The natural environment is a
collective good, the patrimony of all humanity and the responsibility
of everyone.
Whether believers or not, we are agreed
today that the earth is essentially a shared inheritance, whose
fruits are meant to benefit everyone. For believers, this becomes a
question of fidelity to the Creator, since God created the world for
everyone. Hence every ecological approach needs to incorporate a
social perspective which takes into account the fundamental rights of
the poor and the underprivileged.
Damage to climate and environment has
enormous repercussions. The problem arising from the dramatic
acceleration of climatic change is global in its effects. It
challenges us to re- define our notions of growth and progress. It
poses a lifestyle question. It is imperative that we find a solution
that is consensual, because of the scale and global nature of the
climate’s impact, it invites a solidarity that is universal, a
solidarity that is ‘intergenerational’ and ‘intragenerational’.
The Pope defines our world as ‘our
common home’ and, in the exercise of our stewardship, we must keep
in mind the human and social degradation which is a consequence of a
damaged environment. We call for an integral ecological approach, we
call for social justice to be placed centre stage ‘so as to hear
both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’.
Sustainable development must include
the poor
While deploring the dramatic impact of
rapid climate change on sea levels, extreme weather events,
deteriorating ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity, the Church is
also witness to how climate change is affecting vulnerable
communities and peoples, greatly to their disadvantage. Pope Francis
draws our attention to the irreparable impact of unrestrained climate
change in many developing countries across the world. Moreover, in
his address to the United Nations the Pope said the misuse and
destruction of the environment are also accompanied by a relentless
process of exclusion.
Courageous leaders seeking enforceable
agreements
The building and maintenance of a
sustainable common home requires courageous and imaginative political
leadership. Legal frameworks are required which clearly establish
boundaries and ensure the protection of the ecosystem.
Reliable scientific evidence suggests
that accelerated climate change is the result of unrestrained human
activity, working to a particular model of progress and development,
and that excessive reliance on fossil fuels is primarily responsible.
The Pope and Catholic Bishops from five continents, sensitive to the
damage caused, appeal for a drastic reduction in the emission of
carbon dioxide and other toxic gases.
We join the Holy Father in pleading for
a major break-through in Paris, for a comprehensive and
transformational agreement supported by all based on principles of
solidarity, justice and participation. This agreement must put the
common good ahead of national interests. It is essential too that the
negotiations result in an enforceable agreement that protects our
common home and all its inhabitants.
We, Cardinals, Patriarchs and Bishops,
issue a general call and make ten specific policy proposals. We call
on COP 21 to forge an international agreement to limit a global
temperature increase to within those parameters currently suggested
from within the global scientific community to avoid catastrophic
climatic impacts, especially on the poorest and most vulnerable
communities. There is, we agree, a common but also differentiated
responsibility of all nations. Different countries have reached a
different stage on the development spectrum. The need to work
together in a common endeavour is imperative.
Our ten calls:
1. to keep in mind not only the
technical but particularly the ethical and moral dimensions of
climate change as indicated in Article 3 of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
2. to accept that climate and
atmosphere are global common goods that are belonging to all and
meant for all.
3. to adopt a fair, transformational
and legally binding global agreement based on our vision of the world
that recognises the need to live in harmony with nature, and to
guarantee the fulfilment of human rights for all, including those of
Indigenous Peoples, women, youth and workers.
4. to strongly limit a global
temperature increase and to set a goal for complete decarbonisation
by mid-century, in order to protect front-line communities suffering
from the impacts of climate change, such as those in the Pacific
Islands and in coastal regions.
- to ensure that the temperature
threshold is enshrined in a legally binding global agreement, with
ambitious mitigation commitments and actions from all countries
recognising their common but differentiated responsibilities and
respective capabilities (CBDRRC), based on equity principles,
historical responsibilities, and the right to sustainable
development.
- to secure that the emissions
reductions by governments are in line with the decarbonisation goal,
governments need to undertake periodic reviews of the pledges they
make and of the ambition they show. And to be successful these
reviews need also to be based on science and equity and shall be
mandatory.
5. to develop new models of development
and lifestyles that are climate compatible, address inequality and
bring people out of poverty. Central to this is to put an end to the
fossil fuel era, phasing out fossil fuel emissions, including
emissions from military, aviation and shipping, and providing
affordable, reliable and safe renewable energy access for all.
6. to ensure people’s access to water
and to land for climate resilient and sustainable food systems, which
give priority to people driven solutions rather than profits.
7. to ensure inclusion and
participation of the poorest, most vulnerable and impacted at all
levels of the decision-making process.
8. to ensure that the 2015 agreement
delivers an adaptation approach that adequately responds to the
immediate needs of the most vulnerable communities and builds on
local alternatives.
9. to recognise that adaptation needs
are contingent on the success of mitigation measures taken. Those
responsible for climate change have responsibilities to assist the
most vulnerable in adapting and managing loss and damage and to share
the necessary technology and knowhow.
10. to provide clear roadmaps on how
countries will meet the provision of predictable, consistent, and
additional finance commitments, ensuring a balanced financing of
mitigation actions and adaptation needs.
All this would call for serious
ecological awareness and education.
Prayer for the Earth
God of love, teach us to care for this
world our common home. Inspire government leaders as they gather in
Paris to listen to and heed the cry of the earth and the cry of the
poor; to be united in heart and mind in responding courageously; to
seek the common good and protect the beautiful earthly garden you
have created for us, for all our brothers and sisters, for all
generations to come. Amen”.
Bishop Signatories to this Declaration:
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of
Bombay, India, president of FABC (Asia); Cardinal Peter Erdo,
archbishop of of Esztergom –Budapest, president of CCEE (Europe);
Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich, Germany, president of
COMECE (Europe); Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop of Bogota,
Colombia, president of CELAM (Latin America); Archbishop Gabriel
Mbilingi of Lubango, Angola, president of SECAM (Africa); Archbishop
Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, president of USCCB (United States of
America), Archbishop John Ribat of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea,
president of FCBCO (Oceania), and Bishop David Douglas Crosby,
O.M.I., of Hamilton, Canada, president of CCCB-CECC (Canada).
The document was written in
collaboration with the Catholic networks CIDSE and Caritas
Internationalis, and with the sponsorship of the Pontifical Council
“Justice and Peace”.
