It’s now less than six weeks until the UN’s COP26 Summit on Climate Change opens in Glasgow, billed by many as the key moment for world leaders to make decisions that will tackle the biggest ecological challenge the planet faces. Given the significance of the moment and the ethical issues surrounding responses to climate change, faith leaders including Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury have also highlighted the need for humanity to come together and address what is happening to the planet.

 

Now as part of the preparations for COP26, the Anglican Centre in Rome is hosting a public webinar on what Pope Francis calls “care for our common home”. The event, on Tuesday October 12, 2021, brings together Anglican and Roman Catholic experts to consider the importance of dialogue and understanding between faith and science and how improved discourse can help the response of the Churches to the environmental crisis.

 

Among those taking part are: The Most Revd Julio Murray, Primate of the Anglican Centre in Central America, Professor Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a professor of sustainability at the University of San Diego, California, Dr Severine Deneulin, Director of International Development at the Laudato Si’ Institute, Campion Hall, Oxford, and the Rt Revd Marc Andrus, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California. The webinar will chaired by the Revd Dr Andrew Davison, a lecturer in religion and natural sciences at Cambridge.

 

The event follows major developments in partnerships between faith leaders on this issue. In early September, Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby, and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, came to together to urge people to pray for world leaders in advance of COP26. In a joint statement, they said: “We must decide what kind of world we want to leave to future generations. We must choose to live differently; we must choose life.”

 

The extreme weather and natural disasters of recent months have shown that climate change is not only a future challenge, but “an immediate and urgent matter of survival,” the leaders said in their statement

 

And just a week before the Anglican Centre’s webinar, the three leaders are expected to come together with leaders of other world religions in Rome to draft a statement to government leaders who will take part in COP26. The British and Italian embassies to the Holy See and the Vatican Secretariat of State have hosted six virtual meetings since February with close to 40 leaders from world religions and 10 top climate scientist in preparation for the Rome gathering.

 

The Anglican Centre’s October 12 webinar takes place from 7-8.30pm Rome time/6-7.30pm London time. To register for the Zoom session, please email [email protected]