As the Season of Creation came to a close on Monday, October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis met at the Vatican with religious leaders at the “Faith and Science” meeting and signed a joint appeal to delegates attending COP26.

The Holy Father offered three concepts to reflect on with the 40 leaders: “The gaze of interdependence and sharing, the engine of love and the vocation to respect.”

The joint pledge calls on governments to set climate targets and take “urgent, radical and responsible action,” taking into account “the unprecedented ecological crisis and the crisis of values in which we live.”

“Future generations will never forgive us if we miss the opportunity to protect our common home. We have inherited a garden; we must not leave a desert for our children,” they said.

Read the details of the meeting here

This joint appeal is also aligned with the Healthy Planet, Healthy People campaign, launched by more than 300 Catholic organizations last June and already supported by tens of thousands of Catholics. 

During this Season of Creation, thousands of people around the world celebrated hundreds of events with their communities in an ecumenical season that began on September 1 with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. 

Numerous “Abraham’s tents” were erected on six continents, symbolizing this year’s central theme: “A home for all? Renewing the Oikos of God”. 

There were days of prayer, reflection, and debate, one of them in the Basilica of the Sacred Family; events to take action for the care of creation, tree planting, waste collection, such as those organized in Venezuela; and there were hundreds of testimonials of ecological conversion that motivated others. But most importantly, Christians of different confessions united for the common home.

Finally, the Ecumenical Committee in charge of organizing the Season of Creation held a concluding event that brought together young people from different regions to pray together and give thanks for the shared season and the many actions that could be carried out. 

The main speaker of the event was the young Brazilian Amanda Costa, UN Youth Ambassador, representative of Evangelicals for Climate, and founder of Perifa Sustentável, who left a reflection for the youth: “Can we build a future? We live in a world with many crises, so what is our role in this world?”

Watch the full event here

More information about the Healthy Planet, Healthy People petition here.  Social media resources about the campaign can be found here.