\n Pope Leo XIV has called for pressure to be placed on governments to protect the environment as he stressed that damaging the natural world is incompatible with the Christian faith in a speech at a climate conference Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe cannot love God, whom we cannot see, while despising his creatures\u201d Leo told the conference which was held to mark 10 years since Pope Francis\u2019 landmark document on the environment<\/a>. \u201cEveryone in society, through non-governmental organizations and advocacy groups, must put pressure on governments to develop and implement more rigorous regulations, procedures and controls.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The American pontiff\u2019s remarks came in his first major speech on the environment since his election in May. Leo has indicated he wants to continue with his predecessor\u2019s efforts to tackle the climate crisis, opening a new ecological center in the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, about 15 miles outside of Rome, and calling for the conversion of people \u201cinside and outside the church\u201d who don\u2019t recognize \u201cthe urgent need to care for our common home.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Leo\u2019s speech also came a day after he waded into the US political fray by saying that opposing the right to abortion while supporting the death penalty is \u201cnot really pro-life.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In his speech on climate Wednesday, Leo paid tribute to his predecessor\u2019s encyclical Laudato si\u2019 (\u201cPraised be to you\u201d) which said responsible stewardship of the environment was a moral imperative for Catholics while linking environmental degradation with poverty.\n <\/p>\n \n The release of the encyclical was timed to influence the Paris COP21 climate summit and is considered have an impact on galvanizing religious groups and even those outside the Catholic Church to protect the environment while inspiring the group, the \u201cLaudato si\u2019 Movement\u201d.\n <\/p>\n \n They were the organizers of the event at Castel Gandolfo at which Leo spoke Wednesday. Among those attending the event was Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former Governor of California, who is supporting papal efforts on climate.\n <\/p>\n \n In his remarks, Leo referenced next month\u2019s COP30 climate change conference in Brazil, saying he hopes it and other forthcoming summits \u201cwill listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, families, indigenous peoples, involuntary migrants and believers throughout the world.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Leo\u2019s remarks came just over a week after US President Donald Trump called climate change \u201cthe greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world<\/a>\u201d during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly.\n <\/p>\n \n The pope quoted Francis\u2019 second environmental document, Laudate Deum, which pointed out that \u201csome have chosen to deride\u201d the scientific data behind climate change and even \u201cridicule those who speak of global warming.\u201d Leo insisted, however, that people\u2019s hearts needed to be changed, and called for a \u201ctrue ecological conversion\u201d which changes individuals and communities.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe must shift from collecting data to caring,\u201d he said before making a final appeal. \u201cGod will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created for the benefit of all and for future generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters. What will be our answer?\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n A day earlier, Leo questioned whether anyone can be pro-life and support the \u201cinhuman\u201d immigration policies of the Trump administration when questioned about a debate in US politics.\n <\/p>\n \n The first American pope was responding to a controversial decision by the cardinal in Leo\u2019s home city of Chicago to offer an award to Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.\n <\/p>\n \n Cardinal Blase Cupich sought to recognize the Illinois senator\u2019s advocacy for immigrants but faced criticism from some bishops due to Durbin\u2019s support for legal abortion. Durbin decided to refuse the honor because of the backlash it had generated.\n <\/p>\n \n Leo, however, declined to criticize the award, saying, \u201cit\u2019s important to look at the overall work that a senator has done\u201d over \u201c40 years of service in the United States Senate.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The pope added that if someone says, \u201cI\u2019m against abortion but I\u2019m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s pro-life.\u201d Durbin has described himself as \u201coverwhelmed\u201d<\/a> by the support he received from Leo.\n <\/p>\n \n But the pope has also stressed he wants to try and heal divisions and not fuel polarization. The Durbin award controversy, he said, raises \u201cvery complex issues\u201d and he added, \u201cI don\u2019t know if anyone has all the truth on them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n During his pontificate, Pope Francis updated catholic teaching to say that the death penalty is now \u201cinadmissible,\u201d a move which has been resisted by some conservative Catholics. His position is shared by Leo. In 2011, when the future pope was leader of the Augustinian order, he wrote to then Gov. Pat Quinn thanking him<\/a> for abolishing the death penalty in Illinois.\n <\/p>\n \n This story has been updated with additional information.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV has called for pressure to be placed on governments to protect the environment as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-187765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}