What Will Our Answer Be? A Call to Care for Creation

Raising Hope Conference Sparks Global Climate Commitments
October 2025 | Castel Gandolfo, Italy

A few days have passed since the Raising Hope Conference in Castel Gandolfo — a historic gathering that brought together more than 1,000 people from 80 countries, united by one mission: to renew the Church’s call to care for creation.

In his opening address, Pope Leo XIV left us with a question that continues to echo in our hearts:

“God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world He created… What will be our answer?”

The conference reminded us that caring for creation is not just an environmental duty—it’s a spiritual calling at the core of our Catholic faith. It’s about bringing heart, joy, and collaboration into action for our common home.

One of the most powerful moments came with the renewed call for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and the People’s Determined Contributions (PDCs)—two global initiatives leading the Church’s moral response to the climate crisis.

Three Messages of Hope

Out of this encounter emerged three shared messages that participants carried home — messages that together form a path toward ecological conversion rooted in communion.

Hope is a verb

Hope was not presented as a feeling, but as an active choice — a movement of faith that resists despair.

In workshops and testimonies, participants shared concrete ways communities are responding to the climate crisis: reforestation projects, fossil fuel divestment, and local ecological initiatives inspired by Laudato Si’.

Unity is the path to healing

In a time marked by polarization and ecological breakdown, the conference reminded us that healing the planet begins with healing our relationships.

Through shared prayer, storytelling, and mutual listening, barriers between disciplines, faiths, and generations began to dissolve.

Faith calls us to courage

Participants drew strength from the Church’s teaching that care for creation is an act of love and justice. The words of Laudate Deum echoed through the sessions — a timely reminder that the climate crisis demands moral courage.

A Faithful Stand for Life and Justice

The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty is a global effort to phase out coal, oil, and gas while ensuring a just transition for workers and communities. For us as people of faith, this is not merely a policy proposal—it’s a moral imperative to protect life itself: the poor, the vulnerable, and the generations yet to come.

Small island nations like Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Fiji are courageously leading this prophetic call, joined by Timor-Leste, Colombia, and Pakistan. Their leadership reminds us that moral clarity often rises from the most affected communities—those who suffer most from the consequences of the climate crisis.

Turning Prayer into Action

The Raising Hope Conference reaffirmed a deep truth: ecological conversion requires both personal transformation and structural change.

Now is the time to turn our prayers into action—standing together for justice, care, and life for our common home.

Together, let’s move forward with faith and courage. Every action matters. Every commitment counts.