The presidents of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), and the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) issued a “Manifesto of the Churches of the Global South for our Common Home,” subtitled “Towards peace with creation: an urgent call for a just transition beyond fossil fuels.”
Following a preamble (“The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”), the manifesto has four sections:
- The treaty: A necessary complement to the Paris Agreement
- Principles for a just transition without false solutions
- Financial justice: Debt and reparations
- Call to governments and world leaders
“Time is short, but hope mobilizes us,” the prelates concluded. “A world free of fossil fuels, just and at peace, is possible and necessary.”
The manifesto was also signed by the vice presidents of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE) and the Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO).