Pope Leo to Amazon Bishops: Defend the Earth, Protect Human Rights
In Bogotá letter, Pope Leo calls on Amazon bishops to fight injustice and defend nature, signaling a new era of climate leadership.
Dear friends,
Happy Tuesday, and thank you for being part of this journey with Letters from Leo.
This morning, we turn not to Rome or Chicago, but to Bogotá, where Pope Leo XIV sent a striking message to the bishops of the Amazon.
It was vintage Leo — pastoral and prophetic, rooted in the faith yet alive to the struggles of our world.
In these stories — human, textured, and deeply revealing — we glimpse the man who once brought fruit to the nuns of Chicago, and who now brings a moral voice to the Amazon.
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Pope Leo’s telegram to the Amazon bishops was unambiguous: the Church’s mission in the rainforest must blend faith, justice, and stewardship.
He urged the bishops to keep “three dimensions” in mind in their pastoral work — “the mission of the Church to proclaim the Gospel to all; the just treatment of the peoples who dwell there; and the care of the common home.”
Leo’s words make clear that preaching Christ goes hand in hand with defending vulnerable people and the planet.
As he noted, wherever Christ is preached, “injustice recedes” and “all exploitation of man by man disappears” when we treat each other as brothers and sisters.
This is a classic expression of Catholic social teaching: evangelization, justice, and ecology form a unified mission.
Leo was especially blunt about the environment.
Citing the founder of the Jesuits, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and Church tradition, he insisted we have a duty to care for creation “as diligent stewards” — not to become “slaves or worshipers of nature” — since the goods of earth are gifts meant to lead us to praise God.
In short, caring for the Earth is a faith imperative, not an optional add-on.
This message in Bogotá is another climate milestone in Leo’s young pontificate.
He has repeatedly signaled continuity with Francis’s climate legacy — and secular media are taking note.
In July, Leo surprised many by interrupting his vacation to celebrate a “Mass for the Care of Creation” in Castel Gandolfo, warning that “we live in a world that is burning” and urging prayers for those who “do not see the urgency of caring for our common home.”
Last week, Bloomberg News dubbed Leo a new climate champion.
Mark Gongloff writes:
Leo’s embrace of Francis’ message has come during a series of heat waves gripping Italy and the rest of Europe this summer, taking lives, breaking temperature records and fueling wildfires. In fact, the whole world is suffering from a series of climate-related disasters in this mean season, from continent-spanning wildfires in Canada and deadly floods in Texas to crushing heat waves in Japan.
With some of the world’s biggest parties to the Paris climate accord either backpedaling or in full retreat from climate action, you don’t have to be Catholic, or even religious, to appreciate at least one highly platformed voice speaking out for humanity’s interests.
Taken together, the Amazon address and Leo’s earlier green initiatives sketch a coherent vision.
He is weaving together sacramental faith, concern for the poor, and ecological responsibility into one prophetic voice for our times.
Morally authoritative and hopeful, his words to the Amazon bishops resonate beyond Colombia: they cast Pope Leo as a shepherd who proclaims the gospel while literally protecting God’s creation.
In Leo’s hands, the fight for climate justice and human dignity is becoming an unmistakable hallmark of this papacy — a legacy that both echoes Francis’s example and brings new energy to the Church’s mission.
I’m thankful that Pope Leo is 69 years old and fit. I hope he stays fit and healthy for a very long time. He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders and there are very few world leaders able to share that burden with him. In fact, too many add weight; not relief.
For my part, the best I know I can do is pray daily for the man to always be a voice of faith, hope, and love to everyone and everything.
Keep posting, Christopher, and don’t worry too much about paid subscribers. Good pays out in unexpected and unimaginable ways. Trust.
I am so grateful for your articles about our Pope Leo. He may be the apostolic leader of the Catholic Church, but his voice is leading the way for all those who believe that as a *human* race, we need to be good stewards of the people and the planet.
Your writing keeps my hope up. It was fading fast until I found your articles. Thank you for reminding me that faith and hope go hand in hand. May God bless you and your work.