Pope Francis has said the rich world must make profound changes to tackle the climate crisis, while defending climate protesters and urging governments to make the forthcoming Cop28 climate summit a turning point.

He called for “a decisive acceleration of energy transition” from fossil fuels to renewables, but cautioned against relying on new technology such as carbon capture and storage, which he said was “like pushing a snowball down a hill”.

Without decisive action, the world would face “the point of no return”, he said. “Our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.”

The pope’s comments came in a “papal exhortation” published by the Vatican on Wednesday morning, a call primarily to Catholics but intended for the world. Called Laudate Deum, which translates as Praise God, the 10-page document is his first big intervention on the climate crisis for eight years.

His previous encyclical, Laudato Si, was published in 2015, shortly before the landmark Cop21 climate summit at which the Paris agreement was signed. The pope has taken a keen interest in the climate, convening oil companies and activists, and warning of a “climate emergency”, though he missed the 2021 Cop26 summit in Glasgow, which he had been expected to attend.

He called for “a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the western model”, but noted that he had faced opposition for his views. “[I have been] obliged to make these clarifications, which may appear obvious, because of certain dismissive and scarcely reasonable opinions that I encounter, even within the Catholic church.”

He defended “the actions of groups negatively portrayed as ‘radicalised’ … in reality, they are filling a space left empty by society as a whole, which ought to exercise a healthy ‘pressure’, since every family ought to realise that the future of their children is at stake.” READ further from the source