(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday urged the international community to act without delay in combating climate change.In a message to participants of the COP22 Climate Change meeting taking place in the Moroccan city of Marrakech, the Pope pointed out that all parties and stakeholders have a “serious ethical and moral responsibility to take action and implement last year’s Paris climate-change agreement.Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni: “The current situation of environmental degradation – Pope Francis said – which is strongly connected to the human, ethical and social degradation that we unfortunately experience daily, challenges us all, each of us with our own roles and competencies, and brings us together here with a renewed sense of awareness and responsibility”. Participants at the so-called COP22 Conference are being called to take the next step in the implementation of the Paris Agreement which saw world leaders pledge to m...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday urged the international community to act without delay in combating climate change.
In a message to participants of the COP22 Climate Change meeting taking place in the Moroccan city of Marrakech, the Pope pointed out that all parties and stakeholders have a “serious ethical and moral responsibility to take action and implement last year’s Paris climate-change agreement.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni:
“The current situation of environmental degradation – Pope Francis said – which is strongly connected to the human, ethical and social degradation that we unfortunately experience daily, challenges us all, each of us with our own roles and competencies, and brings us together here with a renewed sense of awareness and responsibility”.
Participants at the so-called COP22 Conference are being called to take the next step in the implementation of the Paris Agreement which saw world leaders pledge to make good on their promises for climate action and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Pope said that agreement represents “a significant acknowledgement of the fact that, when confronted with issues so complex as climate change, the individual and/or national action is no longer sufficient, but there is a need to implement a responsible collective response truly aimed at achieving ‘cooperation to build our common home”.
He said we can and must direct our intelligence to guide technology, as well as to develop and limit our power, placing them ‘at the service of another type of progress, one that is more healthy, more human, more social and more integral’, and capable of placing the economy at the service of the human person, of building peace and justice, and of safeguarding the environment”.
Pope Francis said that the Paris Agreement has traced a clear path along which the whole international community is called to commit itself, and that the COP22 represents a central stage in this path, which has an impact on all of humanity, particularly the poorest and future generations who are the most vulnerable to the worrisome impact of climate change, and reminds us of the serious ethical and moral responsibility we have to act promptly, in a way as free as possible from political and economic pressures, going beyond personal interests and behaviours”.
The "Holy Fire" is passed from inside Christ's tomb to pilgrims gathered inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jersusalem on May 4, 2024, for the annual Orthodox Christian ceremony, held on the day before Easter, according to the Julian calendar. / Credit: Marinella Bandini/CNAJerusalem, May 5, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).Pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem on Saturday for the annual "Holy Fire" ceremony at the revered site of Jesus' burial and resurrection, an ancient custom considered by many believers to be a miraculous event that takes place the day before the Orthodox Christian celebration of Easter.For safety reasons, attendance at the May 4 event was capped at 4,200 people inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, though the crowds were more manageable and somewhat subdued this year because of a lack of pilgrims from the Palestinian territories and abroad due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.Israeli police man a checkpoint inside the Old City of Jerusalem duri...
Pope Francis greets the crowd gathered at St. Peter's Square on May 5, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, May 5, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).Pope Francis asked for a moment of silence as he spoke from the window of the Apostolic Palace on Sunday for people to thank the Lord for their friends. The pope reflected on the gift of friendship during his Regina Caeli address on May 5."Since childhood, we learn how beautiful this experience is: We offer friends our toys and the most beautiful gifts; then, growing up, as teenagers, we confide our first secrets to them; as young people we offer loyalty; as adults, we share satisfactions and worries; as seniors, the memories, considerations, and silences of long days," the 87-year-old pope said."The word of God, in the Book of Proverbs, tells us that 'Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel' (Prv 27:9). Let us think a moment of our friends and thank the Lord for them."S...
Archbishop Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias of Angola's Archdiocese of Luanda. / Credit: Radio EcclesiaACI Africa, May 5, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).Archbishop Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias of Angola's Archdiocese of Luanda has asked the people of God under his pastoral care to dedicate the last Sunday of the month to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as part of the preparations for the Church's 2025 Jubilee Year. Pope Francis on Jan. 21 announced the start of a Year of Prayer in preparation for the Church's 2025 Jubilee Year, the second in his pontificate after the extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2015."Following the Holy Father's call, as an archdiocese, we will be holding adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on the last Sunday of each month in all parishes and, in alternate months, a meditation on the importance of prayer in the life of the Church," the archbishop said in his April 18 message.Eucharistic adoration, he said, facilitates "a true encounter with Chri...