Pope Leo XIV participated this Tuesday via video message in the tenth edition of the
Austrian World Summit, the international summit on sustainability and climate change held in
Vienna.
In his address, the Pontiff defended the need to promote a “just
transition” toward economic models oriented to the common good, called
for greater financial support for the poorest countries, and urged
stronger international cooperation to address environmental challenges.
The message was addressed to participants gathered at the Hofburg
Palace in the Austrian capital, where the Pope linked the climate crisis
to broader economic and social problems, an idea he had already
developed in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas.
One of the most notable aspects of his intervention was his call for
the most developed countries to increase financial support for the
poorest and most vulnerable nations.
Leo XIV also called for a “just transition” toward economic models
oriented to the common good and proposed moving toward an international
financial framework that would enable less developed countries to
address both economic challenges and the consequences of natural
disasters.
The Pope also highlighted the contribution that religions can offer
in caring for creation and recalled that for believers the world is a
gift from God that must be protected.
He likewise insisted that responses to the ecological crisis must
always place human dignity and the needs of the most vulnerable people
at the center.
Full Message from Leo XIV:
I am pleased to greet all of you participating in the Tenth Austrian World Summit (Austrian World Summit).
Sustainability, integral ecology, and care for creation have been
matters of concern for many decades. The Church has always been aware
that the ecological question has a moral dimension. Indeed, the
environmental crisis “is not an isolated issue, but rather the
ecological aspect of the contemporary socio-economic crisis” (Magnifica Humanitas, 43).
In your efforts to respond to the current
crisis, I would like to encourage you to keep this broader context in
mind and to propose three themes, based on the Christian virtues of
faith, hope, and charity, which I trust may assist the work of this
summit.
Allow me to begin with faith. Although for
some, faith may seem to have little to contribute to issues of climate
change and environmental protection, the religious dimension is, in
fact, essential for adequately addressing these problems. Those who
believe that our world was created by God and is intrinsically good are
called to assume even greater responsibility in caring for creation, as
their faith requires. “Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s
handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a
secondary aspect of our Christian experience” (Pope Francis, Laudato si’, 217).
Moreover, believers of many traditions
understand “creation” as a divine gift. Likewise, various religions hold
that life is sacred and therefore must be respected. We can say, then,
that religious faith strengthens the common desire to protect life and
care for nature.
This perspective underscores the deep ethical foundations to which I drew attention in my recent encyclical letter Magnifica Humanitas:
the equal dignity of all human beings and the value of fundamental
human rights, both properly safeguarded through the correct application
of the principles of the common good, the universal destination of
goods, subsidiarity, solidarity, and social justice (cf. Magnifica Humanitas,
51-81). These principles must “be considered together, so that it
becomes clear how they relate to and complement one another” (ibid.,
46).
These fundamental personal and social
questions are intimately connected to the climate crisis, which, as I
have noted, constitutes a manifestation—and a critical one—of the
broader socio-economic crisis. Indeed, unless these issues are
addressed, no technical solution aimed at protecting the environment
will have any real chance of achieving the desired outcome.
From this perspective, we must pay
particular attention to the poorest and those most vulnerable to
environmental degradation. I would like to encourage you to keep them
always at the forefront when evaluating, planning, and implementing
possible projects.
This leads me to the second theme: hope.
Due to the global nature of the challenges we face, it is evident that
many people live with concern. There is, indeed, a growing awareness
that peace is threatened by a lack of respect for creation, the
plundering of natural resources, and the progressive deterioration in
quality of life caused by climate change. These challenges require
international cooperation, together with cohesive and forward-looking
multilateralism, to find effective solutions.
However, in deliberations and negotiations
on these issues, various fears often arise: fear of changing course,
fear of losing power, and fear of uncertain outcomes. Only by overcoming
these fears can we work together to find the right solutions.
I believe that it is precisely here that
religious leaders and communities can offer a special contribution to
supporting ambitious social and environmental initiatives, because the
Bible is full of examples of how human fears can be overcome by hope,
which ultimately is a gift from God.
From this perspective, despite skeptics or
cynics, hope can be a powerful driving force. In this sense, it is not
only desirable but also truly possible that the progress achieved at
COP30 will give way to a just transition toward societies in which the
common good prevails over economic profit and where economic models are
rooted in solidarity and human dignity.
However, this requires that the wealthiest
countries fulfill their obligations to provide financial support to the
poorest countries. We also need the development of a new international
financial framework centered on the person, ensuring that all
countries—especially the poorest and those most vulnerable to climate
disasters—can fully realize their potential, always respecting the
dignity of their citizens (cf. Message to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, COP30, November 7, 2025).
Finally, I come to the theme of charity. I
would like to emphasize the importance of cultivating an authentic
culture of care for our environment, which includes what Pope Francis
called “civic and political love” (cf. Laudato si’, 228-232).
This love is the key to authentic
development, because “to make society more human, more worthy of the
person, it is necessary to revalue love in social life—in the political,
economic, and cultural spheres—making it the constant and supreme norm
of all activity. (…) In this framework, together with the importance of
small everyday gestures, social love urges us to devise broader
strategies to halt environmental degradation and promote a ‘culture of
care’ that permeates the whole of society” (Laudato si’, 231).
I hope that your deliberations will promote this culture of care and thus contribute to the civilization of love.
Dear friends, with these reflections
centered on faith, hope, and charity, I pray that this summit may be
fruitful in promoting the much-needed dialogue to find effective
solutions that protect the wonderful gift of creation. And I gladly
invoke upon all of you the gifts of wisdom and peace that come from God.
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