Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, read excerpts of the Pope’s message at COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (video, 2:03:41).

“Sadly, we must acknowledge how far we remain from achieving the goals set for tackling climate change,” Pope Francis wrote in his message, dated October 29 and delivered on November 2. “We need to be honest: this cannot continue!”

“All too many of our brothers and sisters are suffering from this climate crisis,” the Pope added. “At the same time, we have come to realize that it also involves a crisis of children’s rights and that, in the near future, environmental migrants will be more numerous than refugees from war and conflicts. Now is the time to act, urgently, courageously and responsibly.”