Pope Leo Increases Pressure on Climate Politicians at UN Talks Sponsored by Trump Admin
BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Monday urged countries participating in United Nations climate talks to take “concrete measures” to stop climate change that threatens the planet, telling them that humans are failing in their response to global warming and that God’s creation “is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat.”
In a video message played to religious leaders gathered in Belem, Leo said nations had made progress, “but not enough.”
“One in three people lives in great vulnerability due to these climate changes,” said Leo. “To them, climate change is not a distant threat, and to ignore these people is to deny our shared humanity.”
His message came as talks moved into their second week, with high-level ministers from governments around the world arriving at the edge of the Brazilian Amazon to join the negotiations. Monday was dominated by speeches, in which several leaders from nations in the Global South gave emotional testimonies about the devastating costs of extreme weather and recent natural disasters.
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Vulnerable nations have pushed for more ambition in these talks as world leaders have begun to acknowledge that the Earth is almost certain to exceed the expected limit: 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming since pre-industrial times. That was the goal set in these 2015 talks in the historic Paris agreement.
Scientists say that in addition to deadly heat, the warming atmosphere is causing more frequent and deadly extreme weather conditions, such as floods, droughts, violent downpours and more powerful hurricanes.
Leo said there is still time to stay within the Paris Agreement, but not much.
“As stewards of God’s creation, we are called to act quickly, with faith and prophecy, to protect the gift He entrusted to us,” he said. And he added: “But we have to be honest: it is not the Agreement that is failing, we are failing in our response. What is failing is the political will of some.”
Leo made history this year by becoming the first American pope and has embraced Pope Francis’ environmental legacy, including dismissing climate skeptics.
US President Donald Trump called climate change “the biggest scam ever perpetrated in the world” during a speech to the UN General Assembly in September.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said Leo’s words “challenge us to continue choosing hope and action.” Leo “reminds us that the Paris Agreement is making progress and remains our most powerful tool, but we must work together to achieve more, and that bolder climate action is an investment in stronger, fairer economies, and a more stable world,” Stiell said.
David Gibson, director of the Center for Religion and Culture at Fordham University in New York, said Leo is becoming the world’s foremost moral leader against climate change.
“This message highlights Leo as a voice for the rest of the world, especially the southern hemisphere, where climate change is wreaking havoc on the vulnerable in Asia, Africa and Latin America,” Gibson said.
And he said it shows that Leo, who spent decades working as a missionary in Peru and is a naturalized Peruvian citizen, “has a Latin American heart and voice.”
The Laudato Si’ Movement, a Catholic climate movement that takes its name from a 2015 encyclical in which Pope Francis called for climate action, called Leo’s message “a profound moral intervention.”
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“It reminds the world that creation is crying out and that vulnerable communities cannot be left aside. Its voice cuts through the noise of negotiations and calls leaders to return to what really matters: our shared humanity and the urgent duty to act with courage, compassion and justice,” said the group’s executive director, Lorna Gold.
The News’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropic organizations, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. This story was produced as part of the 2025 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organized by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.