Pope Francis has met with World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Celeste Saulo for an audience in which they discussed urgency of concerted efforts to address climate change and to take climate action.
"It's very moving to be in front of such a great spiritual leader," said Celeste Saulo after the audience at the Vatican. "It is clear that Pope Francis shares our concerns about climate change and its impacts at the intersection of climate change and inequalities".
Celeste Saulo has just returned from the UN Climate Change Conference, COP29 , in Baku, Azerbaijan, where WMO announced that 2024 is on track to be the world's hottest year on record and temporarily hit the 1.5°C above pre-industrial times.
Greenhouse gas levels, which drive climate change, are at record levels. Sea level rise is accelerating, threatening coastal populations. Glacier retreat is unprecedented - damaging ecosystems and threatening long term water security for hundreds of millions of people. Extreme weather events - including devastating floods, persistent droughts, searing heatwaves and wildfires, have caused major loss of life and livelihoods around the world.
"It's about how we care together for those who are most vulnerable," said Celeste Saulo after the audience.
She told Vatican News that climate change "will have huge impacts on migration, children, women, indigenous peoples, the more vulnerable who are the ones suffering the most."
The most affected regions, she explained, are Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, along with small island developing countries which are the frontline of rising sea levels. "We need to help them to avoid the consequences of climate change," she stressed.
WMO is one of the leaders of the UN Secretary-General's Early Warnings For All initiative, which seeks to ensure that everyone on the planet is protected by life-saving early warnings by the end of 2027. Although considerable progress is being made, much more needs to be done, Mr Guterres told government leaders at COP29 .
Celeste Saulo told the Vatican News that religions can give an important contribution to climate action and to building hope: "Action should be informed by science, but moved by faith", she said.
She expressed her hope for a closer collaboration in the future with the Holy See: "We have a common agenda and can work together to protect people's lives and livelihoods,".
Pope Francis has repeatedly voiced his concern about climate change.
In October 2023, Pope Francis published an Apostolic Exhortation , Laudate Deum, building on his 2015 encyclical on climate change, Laudato SI. Ten years after this major publication, the UN climate change conference, COP30, in Brazil, will offer a new opportunity to strengthen and update this message.
"With the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point. In addition to this possibility, it is indubitable that the impact of climate change will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons," wrote the Holy Father in Laudate Deum.
Vatican News article Celeste Saulo (WMO): 'We share Pope Francis' concerns over climate change'
