Vatican City, Apr 22, 2021 / 12:00 pm
In a message marking Earth Day, Pope Francis urged world leaders to “act with courage, operate with justice, and always tell the truth to people,” so that the destruction of the planet can be prevented before it is too late.
“The adversity we are experiencing with the pandemic, and which we already feel in climate change, must spur us, must push us to innovation, invention, to seek new paths,” the pope said April 22.
The pope’s video message was played during an Earth Day live stream on YouTube organized by EarthDay.org, which oversees the event held annually on April 22 since 1970.
In his message, Pope Francis said that we do not emerge from a crisis the same, but “we come out better or worse.”