Catholic leaders at COP30 in Belém issue urgent moral call for ecological conversion and $1.3T climate finance, warning technical progress cannot replace ethical duty.
Newsroom (20/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) Cardinals, bishops, and Catholic organizations attending the COP30 climate summit have released a powerful joint declaration urging Catholics and all people of goodwill to undertake immediate, concrete action to protect the planet from escalating ecological collapse.
The Nov. 17 statement, issued as negotiators in Belém wrestle with deeply bracketed draft texts, warns that scientific evidence alone is insufficient to spur governments to the ambition required by the Paris Agreement. Instead, it insists on the indispensable role of ethical conviction, solidarity, and spiritual conversion.
“Moved by what we have experienced through this COP, we offer this statement to all Catholics and people of goodwill to join us in a renewed commitment and action to care for our common home,” the Church leaders declared.
The intervention comes as the Brazilian COP30 presidency’s official summary acknowledges record clean-energy investment but simultaneously concedes that the remaining carbon budget to limit warming to 1.5°C is nearly exhausted and adaptation gaps are widening. Catholic delegates described the presidency’s admission in paragraph 24 – that the cost of inaction now far exceeds the cost of timely response – as a poignant illustration of the moral chasm between knowledge and political will.
Drawing explicitly on Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ and a recent message from Pope Leo XVI calling for “courageous ecological conversion in thought and actions,” the statement demands a global mobilization rooted in values rather than technical fixes alone.
The document contrasts sharply with the current negotiation texts, which propose at least $1.3 trillion in annual climate finance to developing nations by 2035 and options to triple adaptation funding and accelerate fossil-fuel phase-out, yet remain riddled with unresolved bracketed options on burden-sharing and verification of the existing $100 billion goal.
Church representatives argue that persistent ambiguity in the drafts reveals a deficit of shared political will, and they positioned faith communities as essential catalysts to transform public pressure into binding commitments.
Symbolism of the Amazon gateway city of Belém has amplified the Catholic presence. Delegates highlighted “a spirit of true synodality” marked by common prayer, public processions, joint advocacy with Indigenous Amazon defenders, and panels that wove theology with frontline testimony. Brazil’s historic partnership between church leaders and Indigenous environmental guardians, they said, offered living proof that moral and spiritual frameworks can strengthen rather than compete with scientific and policy expertise.
“We walk alongside scientists, leaders, and pastors of every nation and creed,” the statement reads. “We are guardians of creation, not rivals for its spoils.”
Looking beyond the summit, the Catholic coalition called on dioceses worldwide to integrate climate action into pastoral planning, support grassroots resilience, and press Catholic institutions to complete divestment from fossil fuels while scaling up investment in renewable energy and community adaptation.
Father Rohan Dominic, a Claretian missionary and UN-accredited representative, told UCA News that sustained moral pressure from faith actors could still shape the tone and outcome of the final COP30 decisions now entering their decisive phase.
Echoing a June 2025 continental bishops’ statement from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the declaration closed with a prayer for “the grace to care more tenderly for creation, to walk in deeper solidarity with one another, and to grow in the courage needed to respond faithfully to the urgent challenges of our time.”
As ministerial consultations intensify in Belém, Catholic networks are already organizing follow-up coalitions with Indigenous, youth, and civil-society movements to ensure whatever commitments emerge from COP30 are translated into verifiable domestic policies rather than remaining rhetorical promises.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCA News
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