Pope Francis warns that the world is on the brink of a crucial turning point due to climate change.

Pope Francis has issued a warning that the world is on the brink of collapse due to climate change. He criticized global decision-making bodies for their ineffectiveness in addressing the issue, and also called out climate deniers. The Pope's strong statement has been published as an update to his influential 2015 paper on the environment. He emphasized that certain damage from climate change is already irreversible and stressed that denying the human origins of this crisis is no longer possible. Climate change has become a key focus of Pope Francis' papacy, and he has repeatedly urged politicians to take concrete action to combat it. The Pope also criticized the "irresponsible lifestyles" prevalent in the Western world, pointing out the significantly higher emissions per person in the US compared to other countries. He underlined the need for a substantial shift in this lifestyle to have a significant long-term impact. The Pope emphasized the importance of hope in addressing climate change, stating that giving up would be disastrous for humanity, especially the most vulnerable. He called for a new global decision-making process, labeling the current one as inadequate and ineffective. The Pope expressed concern that initiatives to transition to clean energy sources were happening too slowly to be effective and warned against excessive reliance on carbon capture technologies. He argued that relying solely on technical interventions to solve future problems would be a dangerous and short-sighted approach. Pope Francis highlighted the moral dimension of combating climate change, similar to his 2015 encyclical, and directly addressed world leaders, questioning their motivation to hold on to power without taking urgent and necessary action on this issue.