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Francis has made the protection of the environment a cornerstone
of his pontificate, noting in his landmark 2015 "Laudato Si"
(Praised Be) encyclical that the planet was "beginning to look
more and more like an immense pile of filth".
In a message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of
Creation, he said a U.N. climate summit meeting in Dubai on Nov.
30-Dec.12 "must listen to science and institute a rapid and
equitable transition to end the era of fossil fuel".
"According to the commitments undertaken in the Paris Agreement
to restrain global warming, it is absurd to permit the continued
exploration and expansion of fossil fuel infrastructures," he
added.
"The unrestrained burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of
forests are pushing temperatures higher and leading to massive
droughts," Francis said, also criticizing oil and gas fracking
and "unchecked mega-mining projects".
Francis, an Argentine who is the first pope to hail from the
so-called Global South, denounced global inequalities and said
that "consumerist greed, fuelled by selfish hearts, is
disrupting the planet's water cycle".
Through the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation,
Catholics are urged to offer special prayers for the planet. It
is observed on Sept. 1, but it is customary for the papal
message linked to it to be released months in advance.
As well as quoting from "Laudato Si", the document cites
previous popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, indicating that
Francis' pro-environment focus stands in continuity with his
more conservative predecessors.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Crispian Balmer and
Sharon Singleton)
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