Climate activists across the globe have thanked Pope Francis for his new exhortation on the environment titled Laudate Deum, published ahead of a major UN climate summit, calling the text “prophetic” and saying action is needed now more than ever.
Benoit Halgand, co-founder of the French youth organizations “For an Ecological Awakening” and “Struggle and Contemplation,” during an Oct. 5 press conference at the Vatican warned that “mankind is on the verge of destroying its very conditions of existence.”
Amid what he said is “all the skeptical, relativistic and techno-solutionist rhetoric” about the climate issue, Halgand voiced gratitude for “Pope Francis’ clear-sighted and firm reminder of the urgency of climate and social issues.”
He highlighted what he said were three “prophetic” aspects of the pope’s new apostolic exhortation on the environment, which includes a strong rejection of skepticism about global warming and the consequences of human intervention in the environment, including those within the Church.
Francis also criticized wealthy nations, especially the United States, for disproportionately causing the emissions that scientists believe drive global warming.
Pope rips climate skepticism, faults US for emissions in new eco-manifesto
In his remarks, Halgand praised the exhortation’s call for “a strong civil society and a political response to the ecological crisis,” as well as its insistence on the urgency of continuing to move away from fossil fuels.