PAPAL ENCYCLICAL LAUDATO SI

That this House welcomes the recent encyclical letter from Pope Francis, Laudato Si, on care for our common home, which calls on all people of goodwill to care for our poorest sisters and brothers, for future generations and for the earth, our common home; recognises the long tradition of Christian teaching on caring for creation; notes the Pope's call for urgent and ambitious action to tackle climate change; understands the devastating impact climate change is having on the world's most vulnerable communities; further notes the connections between environmental degradation and poverty; commends the work of international development agencies such as the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development and the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund which are responding to climate impacts on the ground as well as campaigning for greater efforts to tackle climate change; further notes the significance of the Pope's teaching ahead of the agreement of Sustainable Development Goals in September and the UN climate change conference in Paris in December 2015; and calls on the Government to show leadership nationally and internationally so that agreements on tackling climate change and poverty are fair and ambitious.