9 of the Most Inspiring, Powerful Quotes from Pope Francis on Climate Change

Daryl ChenUpdated: Mar. 07, 2022

On June 18, 2015, Pope Francis releases a 184-page encyclical addressing the threat that global warming poses to our human family, and the need for the world to come together to fight it. Below, important takeaways from his address.

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Laura Formisano

A Joyful Mystery

“Rather than a problem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and praise.” —Pope Francis

This is what will happen if the glaciers continue melting.

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Laura Formisano

Limit Needs Which Diminish Us

“Happiness means knowing how to limit some needs which only diminish us, and being open to the many different possibilities which life can offer.” -Pope Francis

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Laura Formisano

One Single Human Family

“We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family. There are no frontiers or barriers behind which we can hide, still less is there room for the globalization of indifference.” -Pope Francis

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Laura Formisano

Solidarity is Not Optional

“Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us.” -Pope Francis

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Laura Formisano

Love, Overflowing

“Love, overflowing with small gestures of mutual care, is also civic and political, and it makes itself felt in every action that seeks to build a better world.”

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The Ultimate Meaning

“We need to see that what is at stake is our own dignity. Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is, first and foremost, up to us… it has to do with the ultimate meaning of our earthly sojourn.” -Pope Francis. (Climate crisis could be coming–this is what it feels like to be caught in a wildfire.)

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We Need One Another

“We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it.” -Pope Francis

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Making a New Start

“Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start… to embark on new paths to authentic freedom.” -Pope Francis

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Laura Formisano

Sing as We Go

“Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.” -Pope Francis

Originally Published: June 19, 2015

Originally Published in Reader's Digest