Caritas NZ says the pilgrims are in Glasgow to pray and to press world leaders for strong action at COP26 - the 26th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Religious leaders representing Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist and Baha'i traditions are offering prayers and calls for concrete actions.

The 31 October to 12 November conference is the first requiring countries to honour their Paris accord commitment to submit new, more ambitious plans to environmentally-damaging emissions.

Caritas NZ says the global Catholic charity has three critical targets it wants to see COP26 progressing:

• Strong emissions cuts to keep the 1.5C target alive
• More climate finance that is targeted and more readily accessible to the most vulnerable communities, equally shared between mitigation (cutting emissions) and adaptation. Finance to address Loss and Damage already incurred by the poor must be stepped up, recognising the ecological debt owed by richer countries to poorer ones.
• Tackling climate change in an integrated way, including protection and restoration of ecosystems and prioritising the needs of the poor in a just transition, in line with Laudato Si'.

During the conference, Caritas will hand over its "Healthy Planet, Healthy People" petition along with other messages from faith-filled activists and leaders from around the world.

Several hundred people gathered in the vicinity of the Scottish Events Centre when the conference opened, to pray for world leaders at the conference.

"We remind governments of their commitments made in Paris in 2015 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees," says a multifaith declaration read at the event and signed by more than 50 religious leaders from Scotland and the United Kingdom.

Another multifaith statement asks "governments to swiftly and justly transition the global economy from fossil fuels toward renewables and compensate communities already affected by climate change."

"Across our doctrinal and political differences, we know that we must change our ways to ensure a quality of life which all can share, and we need to provide hope for people of all ages, everywhere, including future generations. To offer hope in the world we need to have confidence that those in power understand the vital role they have to play at the Glasgow COP26."

Scottish Catholic Bishop Brian McGee says the interfaith group is offering prayers for world leaders. It also expects to exert pressure on them to deliver on public demands for an urgent response to the climate crisis.

"Certainly that's what a lot of people have been doing. That is contacting the politicians and explaining to them that this is really, really important and we have to do something here," he says.

McGee says Catholic action at the climate summit shows love of God's creation and those suffering the impacts of global warming.

Pope Francis's "extraordinary leadership" in widening the ecological question beyond conservation has widened the way we look at creation and people suffering the impacts of global warming, McGee says.

"It's about how we treat people. It's about justice in all its forms."

Source

• La Croix
• Caritas
• Image: Caritas Internationalis

"We want those big nations to really see and to really hear," the Tongan-based prelate said in an interview with The Tablet.

"Not to pretend. Not to turn away. We want them not to be deafened to the cry of reality by other agendas. Can they turn an ear of love, not of political expediency? Are they prepared to hear the voice of the voiceless?"

The Cop26 climate conference is regarded by many as the last chance to avoid the worst that climate change presents.

For the senior Catholic church leader in the Pacific, it is vital that the peoples of the Pacific are not overlooked in Glasgow.

The islands are among the most vulnerable in the world, and Cardinal Mafi has emerged as one of their most eloquent advocates.

Mafi was consecrated just three months before the publication of Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si. The document calls for a widespread rebirth of spirituality and social and environmental awareness to combat climate change and redress the horrendous imbalance of power and wealth in society.

The cardinal is a member of the executive of Caritas Internationalis and the president of Caritas Oceania. The group has seven member organisations: Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga.

Across the Pacific Mafi sees climate change-induced problems in many Island states. These include deforestation in the Solomon Islands, people in Kiribati losing their homes, villages in Fiji forced to relocate owing to rising sea waters, vanishing foreshores and erosion.

Mafi recently spoke with Vatican Radio's Linda Bordoni about the 2021 Caritas Oceania Annual Forum.

"Environmental protection, care for our common home is always a top priority in Oceania," Cardinal Mafi explained. He pointed out that "one of our main treasures is the ocean". It is the main source of the people's livelihoods as well as our home.

Mafi explained that while the region has different ethnic groups, "we are so rich in that way with our diversity in culture."

But they also have much in common, he added, "A common shared reality: we are all in this vast ocean, the Pacific, and I think the faith element is a strong element of our communality."

He fears losing the traditional communal lifestyle would deprive people of the one resource they had to cope and prosper.

"This is worth more than so-called economic development and foreign-owned infrastructure."

Sources

• Asia Pacific Report
• Vatican News

The Director of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, Alistair Dutton, is said to be "gutted" over Francis no-show.

The announcement was "an enormous disappointment for everyone who had hoped Pope Francis would inspire world leaders to really grasp the nettle and tackle the climate emergency."

"Pope Francis has always been clear that we all have an urgent collective responsibility to tackle the climate crisis. While he won't be in Glasgow to look them in the eye, his teaching stands as a clear moral call not to shirk their responsibilities for all peoples and the planet that is our common home," Dutton said.

Instead, the Holy See delegation would be led instead by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, its secretary of state.

In a statement on Friday, the Bishops' Conference of Scotland said, "The bishops welcome the announcement that Cardinal Parolin will lead the Holy See delegation as an indication of the importance the Church attaches to COP26 and will continue to keep Pope Francis in their prayers."

The Pope previously said he hoped to attend the conference but would depend on "how I feel at the time".

Francis underwent colon surgery in July and spent 10 days recovering in a Rome hospital.

A report from the Glasgow Evening Times expresses concerns about world leaders staying in Glasgow during COP26.

Specific details remain unclear, but concerns surround the M8, one of the busiest motorways in the UK.

Police have been informed of planned protests near junction 19 at Anderston and the Scotsman has been told of roadworks causing up to 30-minute delays.

"There are security concerns about having to move VIPs through slow-moving traffic," a source told the Scotsman.

The COP26 meeting also coincides with the launch of the Synod on Synodality.

Pope Francis has said it is time to "change course" on the environment in the run-up to the climate summit.

He has also signed the Vatican up to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

Organisers said that while disappointed the Pope will not travel to COP26, they confirmed the Queen will attend the summit. In addition, US President Joe Biden has said he is "anxious" to be there.

The climate summit will be held at the Scottish Exhibition Campus in Glasgow from 31 Oct to 12 Nov.

Around 120 world leaders will meet to lay out plans to cut emissions causing climate change.

Sources

• BBC
• Crux
• Vatican News
• Glasgow Times

The "Faith and Science: Towards COP26" meeting brought together Christian leaders, including Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and representatives of Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism and Jainism.

They shared how their faith traditions interpreted the emergency, many insisting religion and science must act together to save the planet.

"COP26 in Glasgow represents an urgent summons to provide effective responses to the unprecedented ecological crisis and the crisis of values that we are presently experiencing, and in this way to offer concrete hope to future generations," the pope said.

For the religious leaders, care for the environment is a moral imperative to preserve the planet for future generations and to support communities most vulnerable to climate change.

The appeal urged all governments to adopt plans to achieve net-zero carbon emissions as soon as possible with wealthier countries taking the lead.

"We plead with the international community gathered at COP26 to take speedy, responsible, and shared action to safeguard, restore, and heal our wounded humanity and the home entrusted to our stewardship."

Several participants stressed no nation could go it alone.

"If one nation sinks, we all sink," said Rajwant Singh, a Sikh leader from the United States.

"Water is the father, air is the teacher, and Earth is our common mother. Just as we don't dishonour our mother, father, and teacher - why would we dishonour these gifts from our creator?"

"I call on all young people, regardless of their religion, to be ready to fight against any action that damages the environment or increases the climate crisis," said Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Egypt.

"We have inherited a garden; we must not leave a desert to our children," said the appeal signed by attendees, before handing it over to the head of the COP26 conference, Alok Sharma.

Bishop Frederick Shoo, president of the Lutheran Church of Tanzania, quoted Martin Luther in describing his vocation to plant trees on Mount Kilimanjaro that has earned him the nickname of the "tree bishop".

"Even if I knew I would die tomorrow, I would plant a tree today," Shoo said, paraphrasing the 16th-century Luther who broke away from the Catholic Church.

Sheikh Ahmed urged young Muslims and religious scholars to "carry out their religious duty" by taking responsibility for the crisis.

The Istanbul Patriarch Bartholomew called for continued dialogue as he signed the joint appeal alongside Patriarch Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church, who used his two-minute speech to call for repentance for all the damage already done.

"It shall be remembered that the current ecological situation has been caused, among other factors, by the desire of some to profit at the expense of others, as well as by the desire of unjust enrichment," Hilarion said.

Francis strongly supports the goals of the 2015 UN Paris accord to reduce global warming. He told young people at the weekend that theirs was "perhaps the last generation" to save the planet.

Sources

Aljazeera

Reuters

Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, made the joint statement ahead of the Cop26 climate summit.

In their first-ever joint statement, the three clerics urged people to play their part in 'choosing life' for the planet. They called on leaders to make decisions that will allow a transition to 'just and sustainable economies'.

The statement said: 'We call on everyone, whatever their belief or worldview, to endeavour to listen to the cry of the earth and of people who are poor, examining their behaviour and pledging meaningful sacrifices for the sake of the earth which God has given us.

"Today, we are paying the price, tomorrow could be worse. This is a critical moment. Our children's future and the future of our common home depend on it."

'This is the first time that the three of us feel compelled to address together the urgency of environmental sustainability, its impact on persistent poverty, and the importance of global cooperation,' it added.

The three Christian leaders used their platform to speak out against inequality, saying: "We stand before a harsh justice: biodiversity loss, environmental degradation and climate change are the inevitable consequences of our actions, since we have greedily consumed more of the earth's resources than the planet can endure.

"But we also face a profound injustice: the people bearing the most catastrophic consequences of these abuses are the poorest on the planet and have been the least responsible for causing them."

COP26, which the pope hopes to attend, is taking place in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12.

The talks aim to spur more ambitious commitments by countries to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. COP26 also seeks to keep the global average temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius during this century, in line with a 2015 Paris accord.

Sources

Daily Mail

The Telegraph

The 84-year-old pontiff has returned to his home in the Vatican after convalescing from his July 4 operation. He is expected to resume normal activity in August.

Scotland's Catholic bishops say they are "delighted to hear" they may get to meet him during the November conference. They have written "expressing their prayerful support" as he recovers from colon surgery.

A spokesman said: "Having written to the Holy Father to assure him of a warm welcome, should he attend the conference, they are delighted to hear that he does hope to attend and would be glad to meet with them in Glasgow.

"The pope will be in Scotland for a very short time, primarily at the Cop26 conference. While many pastoral, ecumenical and interfaith gatherings would be desirable while he is with us, time constraints sadly mean such a full programme will not be possible."

The pontiff has made environmental appeal a signature of his papacy. He called climate change "one of the most serious and worrying phenomena of our time" at the United Nations climate action summit in 2019.

On Oct 4, the Vatican will host a major gathering of world religious leaders and scientists. They will take a common stand to raise the stakes ahead of the conference.

The conference, called "Faith and Science: Towards COP26," is being organised by Britain and Italy. It will bring together some 40 leaders from the world's major religions and 10 scientists. They will issue a joint appeal for COP26.

The pope criticised former U.S. President Donald Trump's withdrawal of the United States from the 2015 Paris accord to limit global warming. The Vatican welcomed President Joe Biden's return to the accord.

Biden's climate envoy John Kerry met Francis in May. Kerry said he hoped the pope would attend COP26 because the pontiff has the moral authority to sway public opinion about climate change.

Sources

Glasgow Live

Reuters