In his first major climate speech, Pope Leo XIV renewed the Vatican’s vow to remain at the forefront of the movement to halt global warming.

“We must shift from collecting data to caring, and from environmental discourses to an ecological conversion that transforms both personal and communal lifestyles,” Pope Leo XIV said on Tuesday, standing in front of a melting block of ice at the Vatican. He spoke at the opening of the Raising Hope for Climate Justice conference.

The message builds on his predecessor Pope Francis’ legacy of advocating for climate action at a time when countries and companies have retreated from their pledges to rein in planet-warming greenhouse gases. The U.S., in particular, has taken a sharp turn away from climate action under President Donald Trump, though governments everywhere are falling short on commitments to cut carbon emissions.

“Citizens need to take action, an active role in political decision-making at national, regional, and local levels — only then will it be possible to mitigate the damage done to the environment,” the pontiff said.

The Catholic church has played a significant role in shaping climate conversations since Pope Francis’ publication of the Laudato si’ encyclical in 2015. The document, released shortly before the signing of the landmark Paris Agreement, criticized consumerism and called on people to act to protect the planet. A decade later, much remains to be done, Pope Leo XIV said. (Global carbon emissions hit a record high last year.)

“We are in very difficult times, we are desperately looking for leadership,” said Chiara Martinelly, director at Climate Action Network Europe.

The pope quoted Laudate Deum, a second document released by Pope Francis in 2023 that warned “some have chosen to deride the increasingly evident signs of climate change to ridicule those who speak of global warming and even to blame the poor for the very thing that affects them the most.”

The most effective solutions won’t come from individuals, but from major political decisions at the national and international level, Pope Leo XIV said. Upcoming international summits, including the United Nations-sponsored COP30 climate gathering, need to listen “to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.”

Before he spoke, Brazilian Minister for the Environment Marina Silva invited the Pope to attend the summit, which will be held in the Amazonian city of Belém. He did not confirm if he would attend.

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