Signed today, an appeal by six presidents of continental bishops’ conferences calls on government for action weeks before international climate talks

In the context of a recent United Nation’s report on the urgent need to limit planetary warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures, Church leaders today signed a statement calling the world\’s governments to work towards an ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement for the people and the planet.

In short, they ask for the next United Nations climate change conference, which will be held in Katowice, Poland, in December, to achieve bold steps toward the goals of the 2015 international agreement forged in Paris.

The appeal was presented today in Rome and signed by Angelo Cardinal Bagnasco, President, CCEE, Archbishop of Genoa; Oswald Cardinal Gracias, President, FABC, Archbishop of Mumbai; Archbishop Peter Loy Chong, President, FCBCO, Archbishop of Suva; Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich, President, COMECE, Archbishop of Luxembourg; Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi, President, SECAM, Archbishop of Lubango; and by Rubén Cardinal Salazar Gómez, President, CELAM, Archbishop of Bogota.

“Their inspiration comes from the work done on the ground by the many courageous actors within and beyond Catholic communities, who are spreading the Pope’s messages of Laudato Si’,” said a statement by the Catholic charitable umbrella group “Coopération Internationale pour le Développement…