Reflections on COP30 in Belém – the Catholic COP

At this point, I think I can call myself a COP veteran – having attended most, if not all, of the climate negotiations over the last decade since the Paris Agreement. This COP in the equator city of Belém at the mouth of the Amazon, however, was special in so many ways. It was special to me personally, as it is 30 years this year since I first visited Brazil to do my PhD research on the ‘Economy of Communion’ – falling in love with this vast, beautiful continent-sized country, so full of life and colour. They say that if you spend time in Brazil, you return home with ‘saudade’ – a longing that stays in your heart forever. That’s certainly been the case for me.

I was excited, therefore, to be back and to experience again the exuberance of the Brazilian welcome. Whilst my previous visits were more from a research side – studying the role of the Church in building alternatives to global capitalism – this time I was going to represent the Laudato Si’ Movement (LSM).

The trip came hot on the heels of the Raising Hope Conference in Castel Gandolfo, where Pope Leo XIV touched the glacier and blessed our collective efforts to avert a climate disaster. At LSM we felt we were on a mission – to bring that same joyful, resilient spirit of hope we experienced in Castel Gandolfo to Belém. We wanted to be a witness to the spirit of Francis and Laudato Si’ alive in the Church and world.

Movement

To make that witness visible, we brought some symbols of the Raising Hope Conference to COP: the iconic picture of the Pope touching the Greenland glacier, a small container with the water he blessed, and the 40-meter-long silk ‘river’ of hope. Led by Jane Mellett, with these symbols, our aim was to reach as many people as possible to share the message of climate justice and the urgency of action. As a movement, which now brings together tens of thousands of Catholic environmental actors, we have a very strong base in Latin America and were joined in Belém by over a hundred volunteers to help with what became quite a complex logistical operation!

The cathedral was packed with Catholic activists, priests, nuns, lay people from every country in a beautiful witness to the work of Laudato Si’ and Pope Francis over the last decade”

LSM, moreover, was part of a much larger effort on the part of the Catholic Church ahead of COP30 – which marked ten years since Laudato Si’ and the Paris Agreement. Preparation for what many dubbed ‘the Catholic COP’ started two years ago when Brazil was named the host, and we have been actively engaging the hierarchy – the Brazilian Bishops Conference (CNBB), the Latin American Bishops (CELAM) and the various ecclesial networks such as the Amazonian church network REPAM. In turn, those networks worked with other continental bishops’ conferences – from Africa and Asia – to develop a powerful joint statement which was launched in the Vatican in July. This statement – which calls for a just transition, an end to fossil fuels, climate reparations and a plea to avoid false solutions – has now been endorsed by hundreds of groups, including Laudato Si’ Movement, and became the cornerstone for all our joint action at COP30. In many ways, that message represents the clearest articulation of the key elements of Laudato Si’ translated into the current political context.

The question everyone was asking ahead of COP was whether the transition to Pope Leo diminish the desire of the Church to be outspoken on climate change – arguably the issue of our times? Pope Francis was, of course, a champion of these issues. Would his passing change anything? On the first evening of COP, as the sun set on a balmy evening, we got our answer. We brought the picture of Pope Leo and the glacier, and the river of hope through the streets of Belém in a procession in memory of the hundreds of ‘environmental martyrs’ who have paid the ultimate price to protect our mother earth. The atmosphere was electric. As we entered the Basilica, the procession of cardinals and bishops in attendance for COP seemed to go on forever. In fact, there were nine cardinals and over 40 bishops from all around the world. The cathedral was packed with Catholic activists, priests, nuns, lay people from every country in a beautiful witness to the work of Laudato Si’ and Pope Francis over the last decade. Never in the history of COP has there been such a diverse and rich representation of the Catholic Church. It was a powerful witness, led by the presidents of Bishops’ Conferences from the Global South.

From there, the work of COP began both in the negotiation rooms and in the many side events and breakout sessions where key issues were discussed and new proposals and ideas put forward. I was invited to speak on many panels, particularly about the impact of the Raising Hope Conference and the transition to Pope Leo.

Discussion

Discussion of the ‘spiritual crisis’ underpinning climate change was a topic of much discussion. We also spoke of how we can continue to build bridges across faith communities and with the wider society. We shared our proposal around the ‘Peoples’ Determined Contributions’ – a new idea to help break the cycle of low political will, which seems to dog every COP.

For the first time at any COP, I felt that questions of culture, spirituality and faith resonated strongly – not as an add-on – but as a source of wisdom to which we all need to return to address the crisis.

At one point on the march, we spontaneously started singing and dancing, and my heart felt like bursting”

The river of hope seemed to be everywhere – it was a huge hit. Our most audacious stunt involved unfurling the giant river inside the main COP negotiation hall – while I was on live TV. It was a powerful symbol, which caught the imagination of many negotiators who stopped to join the stunt. The spontaneous singing which started almost lost us our UN passes! Supposedly, we needed a different pass to sing in that zone. We had to file an official incident report and apologised for our misunderstanding. Thankfully, we were let off with a warning.

On Saturday, we then brought the river onto the streets of Belém again – to join the global climate march. It was the biggest march since 2021 in Glasgow (given the last few COPs have been in authoritarian countries). It was so powerful to unfurl our river and stand side by side with countless cardinals, priests, nuns, grassroots campaigners and indigenous peoples. At one point on the march, we spontaneously started singing and dancing, and my heart felt like bursting. Didn’t Pope Francis tell us “to sing as we go” in Laudato Si’? And here we were – bringing his spirit to COP30.

Fire

I returned home to hear about the fire in the COP30 venue where I had walked just the day before. Given the state of the world, there is much symbolism in a burning COP. Our world is on fire – literally. The UN and Brazilians, thank God, put out the fire quickly and restored calm. There was a little damage, a bit of panic, but nobody got hurt. Let’s pray the negotiations mirror that ending – and the hope we brought to COP results in a positive outcome for the planet.