Pope Francis has said that he will publish a follow-up document on the protection of nature as a “terrible world war” against the environment was taking place.
The pontiff was quoted as saying that the papal statement – a follow-up to his 2015 encyclical on the climate crisis – would be issued on 4 October, the feast day of Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the environment.
Describing nature as a “sacred gift from the creator”, Francis urged people to take the side of the “victims of environmental and climatic injustice” and called for an end to “the senseless war on our common home, it is a terrible world war”.
Recall that John Kerry, the US climate envoy and former secretary of state, after meeting the pope that the 2015 encyclical had a profound impact on the climate conference that year which set goals to limit global heating.
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Reports show that In the eight years since Laudato Si was published, there has been an increase in extreme weather events such as more intense and prolonged heatwaves, more frequent wildfires and more severe hurricanes.
Last month, Francis said that such events showed urgent action was needed to tackle the climate crisis and appealed to world leaders “to do something more concrete to limit polluting emissions”. He also said that the new document would be an apostolic exhortation, another form of papal writing.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
