Building on the beliefs of his predecessor, Pope Leo XIV made a clear statement on climate change, asking citizens to put pressure on politicians to help preserve our planet. The remarks were made in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, and were the Pope’s first public remarks on the environment since his election in May 2025.
The speech, which the Pope gave during a climate conference in honor of Pope Francis’ 2015 landmark document on climate, was clear in its conviction. Pope Leo spoke of ensuring that caring for the planet wasn’t just a passing trend or a lightning rod for division. He also agreed heartily with previously published texts from the church, warning that “some have chosen to deride the increasingly evident signs of climate change, to ridicule those who speak of global warming and even to blame the poor for the very thing that affects them the most.”
To combat this, he asked the public to take the data they are given and turn it into action that will change our collective and individual lifestyles. “We are one family, with one Father, who makes the sun to rise and sends rain on everyone,” he stated. “We inhabit the same planet, and we must care for it together. I therefore renew my strong appeal for unity around integral ecology and for peace.”
As the Vatican works to become the first carbon-neutral state in the world, Pope Leo XIV invited policymakers, scientists, church leaders, and activists to participate in the conference. There, many called on world leaders to do more to help curb climate change.
“The church will not remain silent and is called to raise a prophetic voice that heals the broken socio-environmental fabric,” said Cardinal Jaime Spengler, archbishop of Porto Alegre and president of the Brazilian bishops’ conference, during one panel.
To that end, Pope Leo XIV’s address is a call to mobilize the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics into being active in political decision-making on all levels and, through advocacy, put pressure on governments to live up to the climate measures they have promised.
He closed his remarks with powerful words, asking each of us to think about the kind of mark we want to leave on our planet.
“God 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, my dear friends?”
Source: Pope Leo XIV makes first major statement on climate change; Pope Leo condemns climate change critics; Church, government leaders set sights on COP30 at Vatican climate meeting
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