Faith and Science: Towards COP26 — Restoring Spirituality to Safeguard Ecological Sustainability

On October 4, 2021, the Vatican convened the conference Faith and Science: Towards COP26,  bringing together religious leaders and scientists from across the world. The purpose of this gathering was to present advocacy and recommendations in preparation for the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), scheduled to be held in Scotland in November. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to express my concern for, and commitment to, addressing climate change:

Respectable Pope Francis, esteemed religious leaders, distinguished scientists—greetings to you all, and may peace be with you.

The workings of nature follow the principles of interdependent diversity and interconnectedness. Humanity and the natural world together form an entity of interdependence. Only through mutual respect, tolerance, and the sharing of resources in the spirit of universal love can we achieve mutual support to thrive.

When the human mind is estranged from the purity and goodness of spirituality, it loses the awareness of the existential crisis—“to survive or perish together with the Earth.” Driven by greed, aversion, ignorance, pride, and doubt, humankind has depleted the life and resources of Mother Earth, disrupted ecological balance, and thereby engendered climate change, undermining the benevolent cycles that sustain the Earth’s structural integrity.

To resolve these challenges, it is essential that the harm-doers of this devastation awaken to the reality that disaster is already happening and that none can escape its impact. Immediate transformation is imperative: we must cease plunder and conflict, and restore the unity of ecology and spirituality, so that humanity and nature may endure sustainably.

I earnestly hope that all religious traditions will unite to guide their vast communities of followers back to spiritual values, to embrace simplicity in living, to actively protect the environment, to end warfare, and to redirect resources toward spiritual and ecological education.

I wish to extend my sincere appreciation to the Vatican, the United Kingdom, and Italy for convening this conference, enabling the compassion of faith and the insights of science to work together in rebuilding our beautiful planetary home.

With gratitude to all—thank you.