ANDREW LIMBONG, HOST:
More than a thousand climate activists and church leaders gathered at the Vatican last week for a summit led by Pope Leo. The Vatican is moving forward with plans to become the first carbon-neutral state in the world. And at the summit, the pope urged everyone to speak up and put pressure on governments to protect the environment. Claire Giangrave from Religion News Service covered the Vatican climate summit. She joins us now from Rome. Claire, welcome.
CLAIRE GIANGRAVE: Thank you for having me.
LIMBONG: Claire, can you give us a quick overview of this meeting? Why did the pope invite these climate activists to the Vatican?
GIANGRAVE: Well, the summit really is aimed at celebrating 10 years since Pope Francis' groundbreaking document on the environment, called "Laudato Si'" - "Blessed Be." As you said, there were more than a thousand climate activists, politicians, religious leaders that were there to discuss not just what has been done in the Catholic Church, but also what more needs to be done. Now, they also hope to persuade world leaders who will be gathering next month in Brazil at the United Nations conference on climate to take meaningful action to reduce carbon emissions.
LIMBONG: This was one of Pope Leo's first major speeches on climate change. What did he say? Let's get into the meat of it.
GIANGRAVE: Well, Pope Leo made the case, and his predecessor Francis did before him, that protecting the Earth is a spiritual and political responsibility for Catholics. In fact, he said that not just Catholics, but everyone in society must take political action. That's either at the state level or at the national level to mitigate the damage done by pollution. And the pope also said that at the end of our lives, we will have to answer to God for how we treated the Earth.
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POPE LEO XIV: God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created for the benefit of all and for future generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters. What will be our answer?
LIMBONG: That's a bold question. Now, among the speakers was the actor and former governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Why was he there?
GIANGRAVE: Well, Schwarzenegger is a Catholic. And yes, we may know him for his action movies and also as governor of California, but now he also leads the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative. And in his speech, he marveled at the size of the Catholic Church and its potential impact.
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ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: The Catholic Church has 1.4 billion members - 1.4 billion Catholics out there. Now think about that - that power, and for that to be involved in our movement, in our environmental movement to terminate pollution.
LIMBONG: You know, Pope Leo was elected in May, right? So it's been a few months. What have we learned about his leadership style so far?
GIANGRAVE: Well, yes. Over the summer and the first months of his pontificate, many painted him as this careful, reflective pontiff who measures every single word and really doesn't go off the cuff. But after spending the last months talking to the power players in the Vatican and beyond, we are now seeing a pope willing to engage with the main cultural issues of the day. Earlier this week, for example, we heard him calling out the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States - his birthplace, remember. And he also seemed concerned about the United States renaming the Department of Defense into the Department of War. So yes, his style is very different from that of Francis, but he's not as cautious as people thought. And we're getting a better understanding of how he may lead the Catholic Church in the future.
LIMBONG: That's Claire Giangrave from Religion News Service. Claire, thanks a lot.
GIANGRAVE: Thank you.
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LIMBONG: This story was produced through collaboration between NPR and Religion News Service.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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