• Pope Francis has urged mayors from big cities to direct their efforts towards the care for the environment and the fight against human trafficking. The Pope was speaking to some 70 mayors from around the world who are in the Vatican for a two-day workshop entitled “Modern Slavery and Climate Change” organized by the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences.

    Telling those present he has “a lot of hope” that negotiators at Paris climate talks will reach an ambitious agreement to reduce global warming, Pope Francis said he places great trust in the United Nations to bring about a good agreement. But – he stressed – he also wants U.N. nations to prioritize fighting both human trafficking and the exploitation of the world’s most vulnerable people. And referring to his recently published encyclical “Laudato Si’”, Pope Francis made it quite clear that the document is not an encyclical on the environment.

    It’s a social encyclical – he explained – because the state of the environment is directly and intimately linked to the life and wellbeing of humankind. And this is not the only connection Pope Francis made in his off-the-cuff greeting in which he chose to speak in his native Spanish. He said huge migratory waves of peoples across the globe are triggered by environmental issues such as desertification and deforestation which leave people and entire communities without the possibility of seeking a livelihood.

    Thus – he said – the exodus that takes them into urban centers gives life to human trafficking which brings with it diverse forms of exploitation (be it economical or sexual) of women, children and vulnerable people.      
    Pope Francis concluded his address with a series of quotes and references to theologian Romano Guardini and his theology of the human person. And he issued a strong call to all the Mayors present at the event to be aware of these problems and to seek solutions working – he said – from the peripheries towards the center.

    Source: Vatican Radio