VATICAN - The deputy director of the Vatican’s communications office declared this week that the UN's COP25 climate change convention had “ended in failure” as world leaders reached no agreement regarding a global carbon market. Speaking in Madrid at the book launch of A Great Hope: The Custody of Creation, a collection of writings by Pope Francis on the environment, Alessandro Gisotti said Monday that while “it is true that the summit has ended in failure” there is, at least, greater consciousness of the problem of climate change.
“Civil society has a renewed awareness of environmental issues and climate change like never before, despite the failure of COP25,” he said. “Society’s awareness is very important,” Mr Gisotti said, adding that it is young people who are leading the way in care for the environment.
“In fact, young people around the world, believers and non-believers alike, feel that Pope Francis is perhaps the only adult world leader who takes responsibility for actions that affect the new generations,” he remarked.
The former director of the Vatican’s press office also had strong words for the Pope’s critics. “Francis’ critics contend that a Pope should not devote himself to ecological issues,” Gisotti said. “These criticisms are unacceptable. The Pope calls for a global response to a global problem, because everything is connected,” he said.