Washington (June 18, 2015) – Pope Francis and leaders of the Vatican today released an historic encyclical, Laudato Si, or “Praise Be”, focused on the environment and climate change. In his encyclical, Pope Francis calls for urgent action by both individuals and world leaders to halt climate change and the degradation of the environment. Last year, Senator Markey traveled to the Vatican and met with Pope Francis and Vatican leaders to discuss the importance of acting on climate change.  

Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), co-chair of the Senate Climate Clearinghouse and member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, released the following statement: 

“In giving us his message to protect our common home, Pope Francis also has given us a common goal – we must act now to stop climate change. Pope Francis’s encyclical offers all people of conscience the opportunity to examine their own lives, their relationship to the planet and its people, and their duty to take action. The Pope’s message is clear: Mankind created the problem of climate change and now mankind must solve it.

“Pope Francis has delivered a message to the world, but the world needs America to be the leader on solutions. As the wealthiest nation in the world and one of its largest pollution emitters, it is our economic and moral responsibility to act. Let’s invest in clean energy and deploy more wind and solar. Let’s make our cars and trucks even more fuel efficient. Let’s animate technological solutions with the values of fairness and equality and then share them with the nations and people who are harmed most by climate change.

“Climate change deniers may be the Doubting Thomases of the 21st century, but there is no doubting the science anymore when National Academies of Sciences across the globe, including the Vatican’s, all agree that burning fossil fuels is changing the Earth’s climate. Emboldened by Pope Francis’s message of faith and aided by the tools of science, let us now forge the political will and take action to address this generational challenge of climate change.”

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