Cáritas Latin America and the Caribbean emphasizes the importance of deep reflection on the causes of the climate emergency, echoing the recent publication in the newspaper El País, América Futura, titled: "Ten years after 'Laudato si' and the Paris Agreement, the crisis of values ​​behind the climate crisis".

The article, co-written by Mons. Gustavo Rodríguez Vega, archbishop of Yucatán (Mexico) and President of Cáritas in Latin America and the Caribbean, together with Mons. Lizardo Estrada Herrera, Secretary General of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM) and Alejandra López Carbajal, director of Climate Diplomacy at Transforma, address global inaction against climate change not only as a political or economic failure, but as the result of a profound ethical and values ​​crisis in contemporary society.

Mons. Rodríguez Vega, in his participation, highlights the validity and prophetic call of the Encyclical Laudato Si' of Pope Francis, ten years after its publication. The joint text insists that the root of the ecological crisis lies in deviant anthropocentrism and the technocratic paradigm, which fragment reality and promote a culture of throwaway and indifference towards the most vulnerable and towards the Common Home.

From Cáritas Latin America and the Caribbean, the central message of the article is reaffirmed: the response to the climate emergency must be intrinsically moral and spiritual, as well as technical and politics.

COP30 needs something more than technical commitments: it requires recovering an ethical horizon, for which religion and the values of care, solidarity and respect can “give soul” to climate multilateralism.

Cáritas LAC makes an urgent call:

• To all social, political and economic actors, to recognize the crisis of values and to put human dignity and the sustainability of life at the center of all decisions.
• To ecclesial communities, to intensify their commitment to Integral Ecology, promoting environmental education and concrete care actions.
• To citizens, to reflect on their own consumption habits and lifestyle, understanding that personal change is vital for collective transformation.

Cáritas reiterates its commitment to continue accompanying the most vulnerable communities in Latin America and the Caribbean, which are the first and hardest hit. by climate disasters, promoting resilience and environmental justice.

We want the legacy that reminds us of the tenth anniversary of Laudato si' and the Paris Agreement to support profound transformations towards a more just, humane and sustainable common home, since the climate crisis is, above all, a crisis of values that demands the overcoming of an extractive, technocratic and commercializing paradigm, to build a development model based on solidarity, social justice and respect for the limits of the planet.

Read the full article in El País.