Brazilian bishops’ conference publishes manifesto ahead of UN climate change conference

August 28, 2025

The Brazilian bishops’ Commission for Integral Ecology and Mining published a 30-page manifesto ahead of COP30, the upcoming UN climate change conference in Brazil.

The manifesto, entitled “Integral Ecology: A narrative to face up to the planetary socio-environmental crisis,” has four parts:

• In favor of a liberating Christian narrative: Green or brown, the economy that kills
• The injured and resurrected Body of Christ exists in all creation
• What we mean by integral ecology
• Socio-environmental and pastoral consequences

“May this Manifesto be a cry of hope,” the bishops wrote. “Not a passive hope of pure waiting, but the kind of hope that runs through the veins of those who write these pages: full of prophetic movements in favor of a new time. The hope of the martyrs who defended the forests, rivers, mountains, and biodiversity, such as Dorothy Stang, Berta Cáceres, Chico Mendes, and so many others. A just hope that does not die with the violence of the unjust, because it is a paschal gift born of the Risen One.”

After criticizing “green capitalism” and “green mining,” the bishops concluded:

We must strive for an urgent narrative that positions us, as Christians, as stewards of the common home; this is our understanding. Concerned about the planet we will pass on to future generations, it is time to contemplate and act in light of the God of life, who “saw that everything was good” (cf. Gen 1). Therefore, may these pages also inspire us to enter into a new pact with Mother Earth, our true home and generous partner. Finally, let us not forget to beseech the Creator, in our prayers with our eyes closed, to assist us in widening our gaze to the realities affecting the planet. And may we possess the creativity to create, with dreams and hard work, “new heavens and new earth” (2 Pt 3:13).

In a prominent front-page article, “Un grido di allarme e di speranza” [A cry of alarm and hope], the Vatican newspaper praised the manifesto as a “profound reflection and a call to action in the face of the global climate crisis.”

“This valuable tool, at the service of ecclesial and pastoral communities, offers food for thought and paths for building integral ecology, through the example of the martyrs of the earth, listening to indigenous peoples, the practice of agroecology, joyful sobriety, and the spirituality of interdependence with all creation,” the unsigned L’Osservatore Romano article added.

 

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Further information:

• Manifesto (CNBB Commission for Integral Ecology and Mining )
• COP30 Brasil 2025
• Un grido di allarme e di speranza (L'Osservatore Romano, 8/27/25)