During a recent conference at the Vatican, Pope Francis is reported to have told chiefs of oil companies that the world must switch to clean energy because climate change risks destroying humanity.
“Civilisation requires energy, but energy use must not destroy civilisation,” he said at the end of a two-day conference.
The pontiff said climate change was a challenge of unprecedented proportions, and that the world needs to come up with an energy mix that combats pollution, eliminates poverty and promotes social justice.
The conference, which was held at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, brought together oil executives, investors and Vatican experts. Like the pope, they all back scientific opinion that climate change is caused by human activity and that global warming must be curbed.
“We know that the challenges facing us are interconnected. If we are to eliminate poverty and hunger … the more than 1 billion people without electricity today need to gain access to it,” Francis told them.
“But that energy should be clean, by a reduction in the systemic use of fossil fuels. Our desire to ensure energy for all must not lead to the undesired effect of a spiral of extreme climate changes due to a catastrophic rise in global temperatures.”
The 2016 Congregational Forum invited all Brigidine Sisters to recognize that we are called in solidarity with others to “deepen our understanding of the complexity and inter-relatedness of factors which threaten the life and well-being of our common home.”
(Photo: Claire Griffin csb , Dublin Canal 2013)