“Given the slow progress made so far, the Glasgow conference will prove quite important, for it will measure and motivate the collective will and the level of ambition of individual states,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, said on the eve of COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference.

In October, Pope Francis devoted significant attention to the conference, meeting with other religious leaders and addressing lawmakers.

Cardinal Parolin added, “Global and cross-sectoral phenomena like the pandemic and climate change have increasingly shown the need for the change of direction called for by Pope Francis, based on the awareness that we all must work together to strengthen the covenant between human beings and the natural environment, with particular concern for the most vulnerable peoples.”