Pope Francis on Friday voiced confidence that a high-stakes conference on climate change in Paris in December would lead to an agreement.
“I am … confident that the Paris Conference on Climatic Change will secure fundamental and effective agreements,” Francis said in an address to the United Nations.
Reaffirming a “right to the environment,” the pontiff, 78, said that the universe was “the fruit of a loving decision by the Creator” and that humanity “is not authorized to abuse it, much less to destroy it.”
“A selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak and disadvantaged,” he said.
