Pope Francis welcomed President Obama’s plan to mitigate climate change during his address to thousands at the White House on Wednesday morning.
“Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution,” he said to applause.
“It seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem [that] can no longer be left to a future generation,” he added.
“When it comes to the care of our common home, we are living at a critical moment of history,” he said. “We still have time to make the change needed to bring about a sustainable… development, for we know that things can change.”
“Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition, not only of the kind of the world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them,” he said.
He also paraphrased Rev. Martin Luther King, who said on another issue that “we have defaulted on a promissory note, and now is the time to honor it.”
Francis has emerged as a champion of those seeking to fight climate change, and he was expected to mention climate issues and give Obama and other Democrats a boost on that issue. But Francis also gave a nod to other Democratic themes, including immigration.
“As the son of an immigrant family, I’m happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families,” he said.
He also encouraged people more broadly to build a more “tolerant and inclusive” society, reject injustice and discrimination, and safeguard religious liberty.
The pope also gave a small preview of his message to a joint session of Congress Thursday morning.
“During my visit, I will have the honor of addressing Congress, where I hope, as a brother of this country, to offer words of encouragement to those who are to guide the nation’s political future,” he said.
