The Vatican, headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, has launched an online platform to help Catholics in the fight against climate change.
This is coming as Pope Francis has also called upon the world to ramp up efforts to reduce global warming.
Catholic congregations and organizations across the globe can enrol in the platform known as Laudato Si’ Action Platform which helps them assess their environmental impact and create a plan for actions they will take, such as planting trees, reducing energy use, or divesting from fossil fuels.
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According to Jose Aguto who directs Catholic Climate Covenant, a U.S.-based nonprofit working to support the campaign, participants’ plans and ambitions will vary widely.
“You need to meet people where they are,” he says. “If a parish and the parishioners want to do recycling and they want to do a community garden, that’s where you meet them. On the other end of the spectrum, we’ve got some young Catholics who have a high degree of motivation and a high degree of anxiety to want to solve the climate crisis right now. And we need to meet that, too.”
He maintained that the online platform encourages all Catholics to move beyond thinking and praying about the Pope’s words — and start acting on them.
Story was adapted from Yale Climate Connections.
