Pope Leo XIV has issued his most forceful message yet on climate change, openly rebuking those who downplay or ignore the worsening effects of rising global temperatures.
Addressing a gathering at Castel Gandolfo near Rome on Wednesday, he stressed that turning a blind eye to the crisis is no longer acceptable and called on people worldwide to demand accountability from their leaders.
In his speech, he condemned critics who “ridicule those who speak of global warming,” echoing the words of his predecessor Pope Francis. His comments come just weeks after US President Donald Trump dismissed climate change as a “con,” making the Pope’s message widely seen as a direct response to climate sceptics.
The Pope was addressing a conference marking the tenth anniversary of Laudato Si’, the landmark papal document that placed environmental protection at the centre of the Catholic Church’s mission.
That document, written by Pope Francis, is credited with influencing global momentum that led to the Paris climate agreement in 2015.
Pope Leo, elected in May, expressed concern that the climate debate had become increasingly polarised. Referring to his predecessor’s writings, he said: “Some have chosen to deride the increasingly evident signs of climate change, to ridicule those who speak of global warming, and even to blame the poor for the very thing that affects them the most."
Just two weeks earlier at the UN General Assembly in New York, Trump called the climate movement “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” and dismissed renewable energy efforts.
“The carbon footprint is a hoax made up by people with evil intentions, and they're heading down a path of total destruction,” he said.
Pope Leo, the first pontiff born in the US, has previously clashed with Trump’s administration over migration and security policies. In Wednesday’s address, he emphasised that tackling climate change required public pressure on political leaders.
Citizens, he said, must actively engage in decision-making to force governments to act. “Only then will it be possible to mitigate the damage done to the environment,” he said.
He also posed a moral question to his audience: “God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created for the benefit of all and for future generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters - what will be our answer, my dear friends?”
The Raising Hope conference took place just weeks before COP30 in Belém, Brazil, where global leaders and climate negotiators will gather amid concerns that the fight against emissions has slipped down the political agenda.
Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva extended an official invitation to the Pope on behalf of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“I am convinced in this way His Holiness will make an indispensable contribution so that COP30 may go down in history as the great moment of implementation,” she said.
The meeting also featured former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who praised the Pope as a real-world “action hero” for his commitment to install solar panels on all Vatican buildings.