By Simon Caldwell
Catholic News Service

LONDON (CNS) — Almost 300 Catholic priests, nuns and monks marched on Britain’s Parliament, April 23, to demand stronger measures to tackle global warming.

Demonstrators hoped to persuade the government to agree to amendments to the Climate Change Bill that is passing through Parliament and is scheduled to become law later this year.

Members of religious orders demonstrate outside Britain’s Parliament in London April 23, advocating for stronger laws to combat global warming. CNS PHOTO/SIMON CALDWELL

They want the carbon-emissions-reduction target to be increased from at least 60 percent to at least 80 percent by 2050. They also want the United Kingdom’s share of emissions from aviation and shipping to be included in the reduction.

Among the event organizers were the English and Welsh bishops’ Catholic Agency for Overseas Development and the Conference of Religious.

The demonstrators included Benedictine Abbot Christopher Jamison of Worth Abbey, near London.

“God made the world for us to care for, and he also intended for it to be something to share justly, for everybody,” he told Catholic News Service at the rally.

“We have two religious duties that we are expressing here today,” he said. “Firstly, to make sure the world is cared for because it is God’s world.

“Secondly, the world’s poorest are the worst-affected by climate change, and so in justice we must make sure that climate change does not make the poor even poorer,” he said.

“It is easier to characterize this as stopping progress, but what we are here to do is to encourage our government to develop new ways and find new technologies so that the world’s development can continue and continue fairly,” he added.

home