“Listen to the Cry of the Earth!” — Pope Leo Doubles Down on Climate Action

After two interventions in 24 hours, Leo makes it clear: the planet cannot wait, and global leaders can’t either.

Dear friends —

Happy Wednesday! Today’s piece is a subscriber-only deep dive into one of the most consistent and defining themes of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate: his moral defense of our planet, shaped in no small part by his years in Peru, where he saw the human cost of climate change up close.

This essay offers a thorough analysis of Leo’s constant voice on creation — a voice that has only sharpened this week, as he spoke about the climate crisis twice in 24 hours. First to world leaders at COP30, where he warned that “creation is crying out” and that global inaction has become morally indefensible.

Then again in Rome the next morning, when he urged the Church toward an “ecological conversion” rooted in prayer, hope, and solidarity with the vulnerable.

If you’ve been following Leo’s pontificate, you know this is not a trend or a talking point. From reopening Laudato Si’ at Castel Gandolfo in July, to denouncing climate denialism in October, to his pastoral memories of Peruvian communities already living the consequences of a warming world — Leo has treated ecological responsibility as a core demand of faith and a test of global leadership.

Today’s essay places this week’s interventions in that larger context. It traces how Leo’s experience in the Andes formed his conscience, how those encounters shaped his theology of creation, and why the pope believes the Church must raise its voice even when political leaders will not.

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At the edge of the Amazon rainforest this week, Pope Leo’s face flickered across a screen to deliver a stark warning.

“The creation is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat,” he said in a video message to delegates at the COP30 climate talks in Belém, Brazil.

He praised the 2015 Paris Agreement for driving “real progress” on reducing emissions, but admonished that “we are failing in our response. What is failing is the political will of some.”

In other words, promises mean little without bold action.

The pope urged every nation to take “concrete actions” commensurate with the escalating crisis — because “one in three people” worldwide already live in climate vulnerability, and to ignore their plight is “to deny our shared humanity.”

True leadership, Leo reminded the summit, “means service, and support at a scale that will truly make a difference.”

Leo’s message carried an implicit rebuke to wealthy countries dragging their feet. Notably, the United States — the world’s second-largest polluter — skipped the COP30 conference entirely this year.

President Donald Trump had even called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” doubling down on his denial at the U.N. in September.

Without naming names, Pope Leo clearly had such attitudes in mind. He has lamented that some leaders “deride the evident signs of climate change, … ridicule those who speak of global warming and even… blame the poor” for the crisis.

Speaking just days after Trump’s remarks, Leo urged a moral awakening. “We cannot love God, whom we cannot see, while despising his creatures,” he said — warning that one cannot claim to follow Christ and yet ignore the destruction of God’s creation and the suffering of the vulnerable.

The Gospel message, in his view, demands that we hear “the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor” as one. And it’s a message Leo has been preaching for a long time.