‘Europe suffocates’: Vatican newspaper laments heat wave
July 04, 2025
L’Osservatore Romano devoted the most prominent front-page coverage in its July 3 edition to the current European heatwaves.
In “L’Europa soffoca“ [Europe suffocates], the Vatican newspaper reported, “Record heat leaves hundreds dead in Spain. Victims also in Italy and France. Massive fires in Crete and Turkey: thousands evacuated.”
“Extreme heat conditions, attributable to ongoing climate change, are currently producing tragic consequences for people’s lives and for the environment,” staff journalist Roberto Paglialonga warned in his article. After recounting recent deaths from the heat, he concluded:
The frequency and intensity of extreme heat events are constantly increasing throughout Europe. On the other hand, strategies to combat high temperatures have significant effects on electricity consumption throughout the world, with important economic, environmental and equity implications. This is according to the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC).
The growing adoption of air conditioning, in addition to having an unequal distribution among the various countries of the world, generates further CO2 emissions, comparable to those of large industrialized nations, such as Germany or Indonesia, in turn impacting global climate change.
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