VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis and the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians issued a joint appeal Friday for political leaders to “support the consensus of the world” that climate change and other environmental ills have created an ecological crisis that is harming the world’s poorest the most.
Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew I called for urgent action to “heal our wounded creation,” warning that generations to come will suffer unless concrete and collective action is taken.
They blamed the current state of degradation on “moral decay” and “our insatiable desire to manipulate and control the planet’s limited resources, and our greed for limitless profit in markets.”
Christianity’s top spiritual leaders issued the appeal Friday, which both Catholic and Orthodox churches mark as a day of prayer for God’s creation.
Their message didn’t single out individual countries, but administration of President Donald Trump has announced it is withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accord, which seeks to curb emissions of heat-trapping gasses in the atmosphere.