ROME — Pope Francis has signed a joint declaration with Indonesia's Grand Imam, Nasaruddin Umar, condemning the “crisis” of climate change.
“Our world is clearly facing two serious crises: dehumanization and climate change,” the declaration said. read.
“Human exploitation of creation, our common home, has contributed to climate change with a variety of devastating consequences, including natural disasters, global warming and unpredictable weather patterns,” said the document, which was read and signed at Southeast Asia's largest mosque.
The 2024 Istiqlal Joint Declaration, subtitled “Promoting Religious Harmony for the Benefit of Humanity,” asserts that “the ongoing environmental crisis is an obstacle to the harmonious coexistence of peoples.”
“We sincerely call on all people of good will to take decisive action to preserve the integrity of our natural environment and its resources, because we have inherited them from past generations and want to pass them on to our children and grandchildren,” the statement said.
Pope Francis is currently in Jakarta, Indonesia, the longest of his 11-year papacy, as he is due to travel to four countries in the Asia-Pacific region over 12 days, marking his longest time away from the Vatican since being elected in 2013.
Pope Francis (R) kisses the hand of Istiqlal Mosque's Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar after an interfaith meeting with religious leaders at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta on September 5, 2024. (Photo by Tiziana Fabi/AFP) (Photo by Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images)
After Indonesia, he is scheduled to visit Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore.
The joint declaration condemns “global phenomena of dehumanization” characterized by widespread violence and conflict, as well as climate change. It is “particularly disturbing” that religion is often used in this regard, causing suffering for many people, especially women, children and the elderly, it said.
In 2019, Pope Francis and Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt's al-Azhar, signed a joint declaration in Abu Dhabi condemning “acts of murder, expulsion, terror and oppression” carried out in the name of God.
“We categorically declare that religions must not incite war, hateful attitudes, hostility or extremism, nor must they incite violence or bloodshed,” the 3,000-word document said. “These tragic realities are the result of deviations from religious teachings.”
This passage was later criticized by prominent theologians for “devaluing the person of Jesus” and “undermining the gospel itself” because it seemed to suggest that God does not desire all people to find salvation in Jesus Christ, but rather that He desires religious diversity just as He desires gender, racial, and linguistic diversity.
The most striking passage states that “plurality, diversity of religions, colours, sexes, races and languages are intentional when God in His wisdom created human beings.”
Many Catholic theologians have criticized this passage, arguing that such statements seem to suggest either that God actively wills error or that all religions are equally valid paths to God.
The existence of many different skin colors, races, and languages among humanity, they argued, was completely distinct from the many conflicting claims about the identity and behavior of God.
Pope Francis regularly talk Last May, the United Nations declared climate change a “global emergency” and that billions of people face “extremely high risk of catastrophic climate-related impacts”.
He said the data on climate change is “getting worse every year” and putting all humanity “at grave risk.”
Climate change, along with biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, global inequality and food insecurity, poses an “existential threat to humanity, to other living things and to all ecosystems,” the Pope declared.
He argued that wealthy countries are especially responsible for global warming because the richest nations “emit more than half of the heat-trapping pollutants.”
This means rich countries owe an “ecological debt” to poorer ones, Pope Francis suggested, and called for debt restructuring and reduction, as well as the creation of “a new global financial charter by 2025.”
“The spectre of climate change looms over every aspect of existence, threatening our water, air, food and energy systems,” he argued, adding that more than 3.5 billion people “live in areas highly sensitive to the damage of climate change.”
This “global crisis”, he said, requires “a universal approach and swift and decisive action that can generate political change and determination”.
“We need to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels and aim for global decarbonization,” he added.
“We need to act urgently. Urgently!” he said, “because the stakes couldn't be higher.”
