Pope Francis painted a frightening picture of a global climate emergency Monday, saying we humans must “correct our path before it is too late.”
“Around the world, we are seeing heat waves, droughts, forest fires, floods and other extreme meteorological events, rising sea levels, the emergence of diseases and further problems that are only a dire premonition of things much worse to come, unless we act and act urgently,” the pope told a group of leaders assembled at the Vatican for a meeting titled “Climate Change and New Evidence from Science, Engineering, and Policy.”
“Time is of the essence,” the pope told the group, which included the president of the General Assembly of the United Nations and the finance ministers of various nations. “You are here today to reflect on how to remedy this profound crisis caused by a confusion of our moral ledger with our financial ledger. You are here to help stop a crisis that is leading the world towards disaster.”
The pontiff said that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is at “the highest level ever recorded,” a phenomenon that must be reversed before it is too late.