POLAND
COP24 is the informal name for the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The meeting took place from December 3 to 14, 2018, in Katowice, Poland. Negotiators from 196 countries and the European Union worked for two weeks on the Katowice Climate Package, implementing the Paris Agreement. The negotiations discussed how nations can collectively limit global warming, find out about the latest technologies available to reduce the harmful impact of human activity on the planet, and stay connected to those who are making a difference, every day, across the globe.
The summit in Katowice also had a spiritual face. The Archdiocese of Katowice, cooperating with the Polish Ecumenical Council, prepared several dozen meetings and events, including: prayers, masses, pilgrimages, and discussion panels. One of the participants was Fr. Mariusz BOSEK from the Polish Province. He actively took part in the lecture of Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission and the one responsible for a long-term climate strategy for regions with a carbon potential because of mining.
Fr. Bosek, sharing his views, said, “The role of the Faith-based communities for climate justice is very important in this era of climate change and global warming. This is a meeting of different religious movements and ecological non-governmental organizations. The changes for a better world cannot be made real without our cooperation with God the Creator.”
“The personal motto, which accompanied me during the meetings, is from Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si: ‘To hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’”, he further said.
