From the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference website: On behalf of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference Laudato Si’ Working Group (LSWG), Bishop Martin Hayes has written to Minister Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport, as well as to all frontbench environmental spokespersons of political parties North and South, seeking an urgent meeting with regard to Ireland’s commitments for COP28, the UN Climate Conference which will take place in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December.
In his correspondence to politicians, Bishop Hayes has enclosed a copy of Pope Francis’ recent publication that focuses on the climate crisis facing humanity, Laudate Deum. In an open letter, on behalf of the LSWG, Bishop Hayes stated, “In his 2015 ground-breaking encyclical letter on care for creation Laudato Si’, Pope Francis placed emphasis on our interconnectedness as human beings with our natural world. On 4 October last, the Feast of the patron of the environment, Saint Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis issued a supplementary document, Laudate Deum, ‘to clarify and complete’ Laudato Si’ (LD, 4). In Laudate Deum, the Holy Father highlights the consequences of ignoring that interconnectedness, ie. in seeing ourselves as separate from our natural world. In view of the ever-increasing global emissions — now comprehensively linked to the recent environmental disasters around our world and their impact upon the poorest and most vulnerable — the Pope calls us to act urgently, for ‘the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point’ (LD, 2).” Will continue with this next week as the Conference approaches its end.