On the occasion of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, Pope Francis released an audio-video message through BBC Radio in the United Kingdom, hoping that countries around the world will update their global solidarity and mutual assistance, and make a “fundamental choice that can free us from the human crisis.” “.
(Vatican News Network) A “full storm” swept the world, a storm caused by climate change and the pandemic of the new crown epidemic, a storm that broke social bonds, and this storm triggered many crises: health, environment, food, economy, society, Humanism, and ethics. Pope Francis published a message on the British BBC Radio “Thought of Day” special radio program on October 29, depicting the tragic picture of the current world.
This special program will be broadcast before the 26th meeting (COP26) of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Unfccc), which will be held from October 31st to November 12th in Glasgow, Scotland. The Vatican delegation will be led by Cardinal Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See.
The Pope said, “Our sense of security has collapsed, and our desire for power and our enthusiasm for control is being shattered.” He called for “planned vision and the ability to act quickly” to rethink “the future of our common home.” Therefore, resist “isolation, protectionism, and overexploitation attitudes”; instead, we should seize “a real opportunity for change, a real refuge, and this is not only in a spiritual sense.”
“This path is the only path leading to the “bright” vision. Only through a new global common responsibility and a new solidarity and mutual assistance can we embark on this path. Solidarity and mutual assistance are based on justice and sharing of a common destiny. A sense of unity with the human family, and the human family is God’s plan for the world.”
The Pope pointed out that putting human dignity at the center is the real challenge facing humanity today. “This is a civilized challenge to promote public welfare, and it is also a change in thinking and vision, that is, the dignity of all people today and tomorrow must be placed at the center of each of our actions.”
Therefore, the Pope invited the world to “build together” because we “cannot get out of the crisis alone” and there are no “boundaries, barriers, and political walls that can be used to hide.” The Pope then referred to the joint appeal signed with religious leaders and scientists on October 4, which is to evoke “more responsible and concerted action” in the field of climate, because “we cannot allow” future generations to live in “uninhabitable conditions”. In the world“.
“In the joint appeal, we proposed that we need to act responsibly to promote our common homeland and our own “culture of care”, and strive to eradicate “the seeds of conflict, namely greed, indifference, ignorance, fear, injustice, and injustice.” Security and violence. “
However, “such an urgent change of course” requires “everyone’s commitment”, which “must also be nourished by their own beliefs and spiritual life.” Because if the politicians participating in the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference are “urgently invited to provide effective answers to the ecological crisis of our lives” and “leave concrete hope for future generations”, then they should also be talking about globalization. Responsibility.
The Pope said: “All of us, no matter where we are, can play a role to change our collective response to the unprecedented threat of climate change and the damage to our common home.”
The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference was originally scheduled to be held in November 2020, but it was postponed for one year due to the epidemic. The countries attending the conference will present their own new plans to reduce emissions of gases that contribute to global warming. At the 21st Paris Climate Summit in 2015, it was determined that the earth’s temperature increase should be controlled within 1.5°C.
In addition, the signatories have also pledged to adapt to the effects of climate change and mobilize the funds needed to achieve these goals, and formulate a national plan to reduce their own gas emissions, the “Nationally Determined Contribution” (Ndc) target. The plan must be updated every five years, and at this Glasgow climate summit, countries will present new plans.
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