VATICAN CITY - - The pontiff has implored world leaders to limit carbon emissions amid unprecedented levels of heat and extreme weather events.

 At the Angelus, recited with 20,000 people present in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican, the pope made a new appeal for the protection of the planet, a theme he particularly cares about.

 "I am renewing my appeal to the leaders of nations to do something more concrete to limit polluting emissions: it is an urgent challenge and cannot be postponed, it concerns everyone. Let us protect our common home!" the pope remarked. 

 The pope recalled that "we are experiencing, here and in many countries, extreme climatic events: on the one hand, various regions are affected by abnormal heat waves and devastating fires; on the other, in not a few places there are storms and floods, such as those that have scourged South Korea in recent days: I sympathise with those who are suffering and with those who are assisting the victims and the displaced.”

 Never before had a pope dedicated an entire encyclical, the most important document among the literary genres available to the Bishop of Rome, to the care of the planet. With Laudato si', the title chosen by the pope, which takes up the famous Canticle of the Creatures by Saint Francis of Assisi, the pope has broken a veritable taboo that had always seen environmental themes as quite marginal in the magisterium of his predecessors. 

 This is unlike what had already been happening for years in the Orthodox world thanks to the ecological sensitivity of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew.

 In his encyclical, the pope also offered practical advice to save the environment from pollution and devastation. For him, harmful consumer habits do not "seem to be receding, but rather extending and developing". One example is the "increasing use and intensity of air conditioners: the markets, seeking immediate profit, stimulate demand even more. If anyone were to observe planetary society from the outside, they would be astonished at such behaviour, which at times seems suicidal.”

 The pope emphasised that "it is very noble to take on the task of caring for the world with small daily actions, and it is wonderful that education is able to motivate people to the point of shaping a lifestyle. Education for environmental responsibility can encourage various behaviours that have a direct and important impact on caring for the environment, such as avoiding the use of plastic or paper, reducing water consumption, differentiating waste, cooking only as much as can reasonably be eaten, treating other living beings with care, using public transport or sharing the same vehicle with several people, planting trees, turning off lights and so on.”

 “All this,” adds the pope, ”is part of a generous and dignified creativity that shows the best of human beings. Reusing something instead of quickly disposing of it, starting from deep motivations, can be an act of love that expresses our dignity.”

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