Pope Leo XIV Urges Global Environmental Action

Pope Leo XIV delivered his first major climate address at a conference marking the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’, renewing the Vatican’s commitment to lead on climate action. He called for an “ecological conversion,” urging a shift from collecting data to caring and pressing citizens, NGOs, Indigenous and environmental groups to pressure governments to adopt tougher regulations and stronger political action ahead of next month’s COP30 in Brazil. Leo condemned those who ridicule climate science and said damaging the natural world is incompatible with Christian faith. He spoke before a melting block of ice and quoted Pope Francis’s moral case for stewardship. The three-day event south of Rome drew about 1,000 participants, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the Vatican has approved a solar farm and is launching a new ecological training center to advance carbon-neutral and ecological initiatives.