VATICAN CITY (AP) 鈥� Catholic bishops from Asia, Africa and Latin America demanded for the parts of the world most affected by rising temperatures and rejected what they said were the 鈥渇alse solutions鈥� promoted by wealthy countries.
As a , including the Vatican, the continental bishops conferences of the Global South penned a first-ever joint ecological appeal ahead of the next U.N. climate conference in November in Belem, Brazil.
In the document, they echoed the frequent environmental appeals by Pope Francis during his 12-year pontificate, but in a language that was far less diplomatic and far more urgent.
They blasted the 鈥渙penly denialist and apathetic stance鈥� of 鈥渟o-called elites of power鈥� in the industrialized world who pressure their governments to back off sufficient mitigation and adaptation measures.
The proposals merely perpetuate the exploitation of God鈥檚 creation and its most vulnerable people, when what is really needed is the complete abandonment of fossil fuels and a new economic model that values the common good, the bishops said.
Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo, said the document isn鈥檛 just an analysis, 鈥渂ut a cry of dignity.鈥�
鈥淲e, the pastors of the South, demand climate justice as a human and spiritual right,鈥� he told a Vatican news conference in prepared remarks.
The document said it was 鈥渟eriously contradictory鈥� to use profits from oil extraction to finance green energy transition, saying carbon markets and mining for clean technologies were 鈥渇alse solutions.鈥�
This 鈥済reen economy鈥� really serves as an 鈥渆cological restructuring of capitalism鈥� that just concentrates power again in corporations and regulatory systems, they said.
Francis made caring for the environment a and penned a landmark encyclical that has spawned global movements to care for the planet.
Pope Leo XIV has indicated he is following in Francis鈥� footsteps, visiting the future site of a huge Vatican and planning to spend the summer at the papal retreat outside Rome that Francis turned into an .
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Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press
