faithfulness to the See of Peter", Francis writes.   
    "I thank the Lord for having given His Church this eminent priestly and   
   episcopal figure, and raise fervent prayers to God that He might welcome in His   
   eternal joy, after so much suffering, this good and faithful servant". The Pope   
   concludes by offering his apostolic blessing to the archbishop, the Slovakian   
   episcopate, the presbytery, religious communities and all the faithful of the   
   diocese of Nitra, whom the cardinal loved and served, as a sign of Christian   
   faith and hope in the Resurrected Lord.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Cardinals, patriarchs and bishops from all over the world launch an appeal to   
   the negotiators of COP 21   
    Vatican City, 26 October 2015 (VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press   
   Office   
   a press conference was held to present the Appeal by by Cardinals, Patriarchs   
   and Bishops from across the globe representing the continental groupings of   
   national episcopal conferences, to the negotiators of the COP 21 in Paris   
   (Conference of Parties), to be held from 30 November to 11 December this year.   
   The initiative was promoted by the Pontifical Council "Justice and Peace",   
   inspired by the Holy Father's Encyclical "Laudato si'".   
    The speakers were Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, India,   
   president of the FABC (Asia); Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop of   
   Bogota, Colombia, president of the CELAM (Latin America), Archbishop John Ribat   
   of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, president of the Federation of Episcopal   
   Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO) and Bishop Jean Kockerols of Mechelen-Brussels,   
   first vice-president of the Commission of the Episcopates of the European   
   Community (COMECE) and, as special envoy, Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele de   
   Strihou of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, former vice-president of   
   the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).   
    Before the beginning of the Conference, the Appeal was signed by various   
   representatives of the episcopate from around the world, in the presence of   
   Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council   
   "Justice and Peace", and His Beatitude Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, O.M.M.,   
   Patriarch of Antioch (Maronites) and president of CCPO (the Council of Catholic   
   Patriarchs of the East), Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi, C.S.Sp., of Lubango,   
   Angola, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and   
   Madagascar (SECAM), Archbishop Richard William Smith of Edmonton, Canada,   
   former   
   president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Canada, Msgr. Duarte Nuno   
   Queiroz de Barros de Cunha, general secretary of the Council of Episcopal   
   Conferences of Europe and Msgr. Ronny E. Jenkins, general secretary of the   
   United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Bernd Nilles, general   
   secretary of CIDSE (International Alliance of Catholic Development Agencies).   
    The appeal is issued by Cardinals, Patriarchs and Bishops from across the   
   globe   
   representing the continental groupings of national episcopal conferences and it   
   is addressed to those negotiating the COP 21 in Paris, calling on them to work   
   toward the approval of a fair, legally binding and truly transformational   
   climate agreement.   
    "Representing the Catholic Church from the five continents, we Cardinals,   
   Patriarchs and Bishops have come together to express, on our own behalf and on   
   behalf of the people for whom we care, the widely-held hope that a just and   
   legally binding climate agreement will emerge from the negotiations of the COP   
   21 in Paris. We advance a ten-point policy proposal, drawing on the concrete   
   experience of people across the continents, and linking climate change to   
   social   
   injustice and the social exclusion of the poorest and most vulnerable of our   
   citizens.   
    Climate Change: challenges and opportunities   
    In his encyclical letter, Laudato si', addressed ‘to every person living on   
   this planet', Pope Francis claims that ‘climate change represents one of the   
   principal challenges facing humanity today'. The climate is a common good,   
   belonging to all and meant for all. The natural environment is a collective   
   good, the patrimony of all humanity and the responsibility of everyone.   
    Whether believers or not, we are agreed today that the earth is essentially a   
   shared inheritance, whose fruits are meant to benefit everyone. For believers,   
   this becomes a question of fidelity to the Creator, since God created the world   
   for everyone. Hence every ecological approach needs to incorporate a social   
   perspective which takes into account the fundamental rights of the poor and the   
   underprivileged.   
    Damage to climate and environment has enormous repercussions. The problem   
   arising from the dramatic acceleration of climatic change is global in its   
   effects. It challenges us to re- define our notions of growth and progress. It   
   poses a lifestyle question. It is imperative that we find a solution that is   
   consensual, because of the scale and global nature of the climate's impact, it   
   invites a solidarity that is universal, a solidarity that is ‘in   
   ergenerational'   
   and ‘intragenerational'.   
    The Pope defines our world as ‘our common home' and, in the exercise of our   
   stewardship, we must keep in mind the human and social degradation which is a   
   consequence of a damaged environment. We call for an integral ecological   
   approach, we call for social justice to be placed centre stage ‘so as to hear   
   both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor'.   
    Sustainable development must include the poor   
    While deploring the dramatic impact of rapid climate change on sea levels,   
   extreme weather events, deteriorating ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity,   
   the Church is also witness to how climate change is affecting vulnerable   
   communities and peoples, greatly to their disadvantage. Pope Francis draws our   
   attention to the irreparable impact of unrestrained climate change in many   
   developing countries across the world. Moreover, in his address to the United   
   Nations the Pope said the misuse and destruction of the environment are also   
   accompanied by a relentless process of exclusion.   
    Courageous leaders seeking enforceable agreements   
    The building and maintenance of a sustainable common home requires courageous   
   and imaginative political leadership. Legal frameworks are required which   
   clearly establish boundaries and ensure the protection of the ecosystem.   
    Reliable scientific evidence suggests that accelerated climate change is the   
   result of unrestrained human activity, working to a particular model of   
   progress   
   and development, and that excessive reliance on fossil fuels is primarily   
   responsible. The Pope and Catholic Bishops from five continents, sensitive to   
   the damage caused, appeal for a drastic reduction in the emission of carbon   
   dioxide and other toxic gases.   
    We join the Holy Father in pleading for a major break-through in Paris, for a   
   comprehensive and transformational agreement supported by all based on   
   principles of solidarity, justice and participation. This agreement must put   
   the   
   common good ahead of national interests. It is essential too that the   
   negotiations result in an enforceable agreement that protects our common home   
   and all its inhabitants.   
    We, Cardinals, Patriarchs and Bishops, issue a general call and make ten   
   specific policy proposals. We call on COP 21 to forge an international   
   agreement   
   to limit a global temperature increase to within those parameters currently   
   suggested from within the global scientific community to avoid catastrophic   
   climatic impacts, especially on the poorest and most vulnerable communities.   
   There is, we agree, a common but also differentiated responsibility of all   
   nations. Different countries have reached a different stage on the development   
   spectrum. The need to work together in a common endeavour is imperative.   
    Our ten calls:   
    1. to keep in mind not only the technical but particularly the ethical and   
   moral dimensions of climate change as indicated in Article 3 of the United   
   Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).   
    2. to accept that climate and atmosphere are global common goods that are   
   belonging to all and meant for all.   
    3. to adopt a fair, transformational and legally binding global agreement   
   based   
   on our vision of the world that recognises the need to live in harmony with   
   nature, and to guarantee the fulfilment of human rights for all, including   
   those   
   of Indigenous Peoples, women, youth and workers.   
    4. to strongly limit a global temperature increase and to set a goal for   
   complete decarbonisation by mid-century, in order to protect front-line   
   communities suffering from the impacts of climate change, such as those in the   
   Pacific Islands and in coastal regions.   
    - to ensure that the temperature threshold is enshrined in a legally binding   
   global agreement, with ambitious mitigation commitments and actions from all   
   countries recognising their common but differentiated responsibilities and   
   respective capabilities (CBDRRC), based on equity principles, historical   
   responsibilities, and the right to sustainable development.   
    - to secure that the emissions reductions by governments are in line with the   
   decarbonisation goal, governments need to undertake periodic reviews of the   
   pledges they make and of the ambition they show. And to be successful these   
   reviews need also to be based on science and equity and shall be mandatory.   
    5. to develop new models of development and lifestyles that are climate   
   compatible, address inequality and bring people out of poverty. Central to this   
   is to put an end to the fossil fuel era, phasing out fossil fuel emissions,   
   including emissions from military, aviation and shipping, and providing   
   affordable, reliable and safe renewable energy access for all.   
    6. to ensure people's access to water and to land for climate resilient and   
   sustainable food systems, which give priority to people driven solutions rather   
   than profits.   
    7. to ensure inclusion and participation of the poorest, most vulnerable and   
   impacted at all levels of the decision-making process.   
    8. to ensure that the 2015 agreement delivers an adaptation approach that   
   adequately responds to the immediate needs of the most vulnerable communities   
   and builds on local alternatives.   
    9. to recognise that adaptation needs are contingent on the success of   
   mitigation measures taken. Those responsible for climate change have   
   responsibilities to assist the most vulnerable in adapting and managing loss   
   and   
   damage and to share the necessary technology and knowhow.   
    10. to provide clear roadmaps on how countries will meet the provision of   
   predictable, consistent, and additional finance commitments, ensuring a   
   balanced   
   financing of mitigation actions and adaptation needs.   
    All this would call for serious ecological awareness and education.   
    Prayer for the Earth   
    God of love, teach us to care for this world our common home. Inspire   
   government leaders as they gather in Paris to listen to and heed the cry of the   
   earth and the cry of the poor; to be united in heart and mind in responding   
   courageously; to seek the common good and protect the beautiful earthly garden   
   you have created for us, for all our brothers and sisters, for all generations   
   to come. Amen".   
    Bishop Signatories to this Declaration:   
    Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, India, president of FABC   
   (Asia);   
   Cardinal Peter Erdo, archbishop of of Esztergom -Budapest, president of CCEE   
   (Europe); Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich, Germany, president of   
   COMECE (Europe); Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop of Bogota, Colombia,   
   president of CELAM (Latin America); Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi of Lubango,   
   Angola, president of SECAM (Africa); Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville,   
   president of USCCB (United States of America), Archbishop John Ribat of Port   
   Moresby, Papua New Guinea, president of FCBCO (Oceania), and Bishop David   
   Douglas Crosby, O.M.I., of Hamilton, Canada, president of CCCB-CECC (Canada).   
    The document was written in collaboration with the Catholic networks CIDSE and   
   Caritas Internationalis, and with the sponsorship of the Pontifical Council   
   "Justice and Peace".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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