Sawt Falasteen - Pope, Schwarzenegger to rally Catholics to 'terminate' climate change

The three-day event marks the 10th anniversary of late Pope Francis's landmark climate manifesto "Laudato Si", an appeal for action on human-caused global warming.

US-born Pope Leo, elected in May following Francis's death, has taken up his predecessor's rallying cry, insisting it is time to swap words for "decisive and coordinated climate action".

Time is of the essence. The emissions which drive climate change have been rising around the world, but need to almost halve by the end of the decade to limit global warming to the safer levels agreed under the 2015 Paris deal.

How to achieve that will be the focus of the upcoming UN COP30 climate summit in Brazil in November.

In light of that, "Raising Hope for Climate Justice" -- which will be held in Castel Gandolfo, where the pope has a summer residence -- will look at progress made and "urgent steps" now needed, organisers said.

Action hero-turned-environmental campaigner Schwarzenegger told a press conference at the Vatican Tuesday that it was "very important" for the Catholic Church to throw its weight behind the global challenge.

"There is not one single person who can 'terminate' pollution alone," he quipped.

"We have to work together. You have 1.4 billion Catholics in the world, and you have 200,000 churches, and you have approximately 400,000 priests. Imagine the power of communication," Schwarzenegger added.

"Every single one of those 1.4 billion Catholics can be a crusader for the environment."

- 'People power' -

The former California governor will speak Wednesday alongside Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva and Pope Leo, who has declared protecting the environment "a matter of justice: social, economic and human".

"In a world where the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters are the first to suffer the devastating effects of climate change... care for creation becomes an expression of our faith and humanity," the pope wrote in September.

Before his election as head of the Catholic Church, Robert Francis Prevost spent around 20 years as a missionary in Peru, where he helped vulnerable communities hit by the effects of climate change, including severe floods.

Schwarzenegger said the conference -- which brings together bishops, climate and biodiversity experts, Indigenous leaders and civil society representatives -- was a chance to harness "people power".

Lorna Gold, head of the Laudato Si' Movement organising the conference, said participants would make a new pledge in memory of Pope Francis "to fulfil the vision" of his call to climate action, which would then be delivered to COP30.

"We know our leaders are not making adequate progress... (and) are not prepared to wait," she told journalists.

The aim of this conference is "to see how we as non-state actors can step up", she said.

Experts credited Francis with having influenced the landmark 2015 Paris climate accords with his "Laudato Si" encyclical, which argued that developed economies were to blame for an impending environmental catastrophe.

Nearly a decade later in 2023, Francis warned that some of the damage was "already irreversible".

H.Nasr--SF-PST