Laudato Si’ and the urgency of the present moment

“The time has come to act immediately. We are calling on decision makers to take concrete action to save our planet and we call on the Catholic Church to give an example through its witness.”

These were some of the messages from the young and not so young people, indigenous communities from Amazonia and “Pacific Warriors” who came to Rome in response to Pope Francis’ appeal for an ecological conversion.

Nearly 400 people accepted a Vatican invitation to attend a July 5-6 conference, entitled “Saving our common home and the future of life on earth,” to mark and celebrate the third anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ on the protection of our common home.

All committed to climate justice

Participants included Christians and non-Christians, scientists, artists, politicians, economists and activists, all involved in various ways in working for climate justice and the protection of a dignified life on earth.

All felt challenged by the increasing urgency to act and bring pressure to bear to achieve a firm commitment from states and other parties in the COP24 climate negotiations to be held in Poland next December.

As Msgr. Bruno Marie Duffé, secretary of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, told us, “we can no longer accept that the appropriation and exhaustion of natural resources should continue to enrich a small number of people while endangering the lives of the poorest.”

The young people present understood how to attract the attention of plenary hall. We do not have the luxury of time, they said, appealing to us – their elders – “to give them a chance” on this earth.

A variety of scientists, politicians and economists also shared their respective observations.

The alarming speed of climate change caused by human behavior and the choices we make threaten the very survival of species, water and air quality as well as food security. These are huge challenges.

However, we also heard from the representatives of the indigenous communities and the “Pacific warriors” that, on top of the risk to other species, human life is also under threat.

Hence, demands for implementation of the Paris Agreement are an absolute minimum and in fact do not go far enough.

The 2°C ceiling for planetary warming exceeds what is really acceptable. All the various views expressed in recent days confirm this.

The difference between 1.5° and 2° warming will make the difference between life and death for the Pacific islands and communities who live there, their traditions, their history and culture. The Paris agreement must not fail.

Still time to act

For some of us, this appeal for action goes beyond logical or intellectual understanding. Rather, it is a cry from the heart, from the depths of the forests, a cry heard through the music and beauty of Creation that we need to protect against our human behavior.

For those who make up the great family of the Catholic Church, we also feel the moral and ethical moral responsibility to act, to witness to this ecological conversion and to carry forward the cultural revolution that the pope has spoken of.

In his address to meeting participants, Pope Francis told us that there is still time to correct our aim.

Starting from now, all of us need to make deep and radical changes in our lifestyles, economic choices, indeed, in our very definitions of progress, development and flourishing.

The earth and dignified life on this earth are common goods. We must be ready to defend them with all the gifts and talents at our disposal. And we need to do so together in solidarity with each other.

Josianne Gauthier is the Secretary General of CIDSE, an international alliance of Catholic development agencies working for global justice.