Inter-religious march in Rome demands action on climate change

Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and Muslims march through Rome to the Vatican

VATICAN CITY: Several thousand Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and Muslims marched through Rome to the Vatican on Sunday to demand action on climate change and thank Pope Francis for his encyclical on the environment.

They marched behind banners reading "Many Faiths - One Planet" and "The Earth - Our Common Home - Climate Action Now!"

to lobby leaders to take decisive action at a United Nations summit in Paris this year to stem the effects of global warming.

Speaking to crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square for his Sunday blessing and message, the pope acknowledged the groups and encouraged inter-religious collaboration for an "integral ecology" to protect "our common home".

The participants held up placards promoting renewable energy and sustainable development and flew kites shaped like white doves. One banner read: "Thank you Pope Francis for Laudato Si" (the name of his encyclical).

In the encyclical released on June 18, Pope Francis demanded swift action to save the planet from environmental ruin. He urged world leaders to hear "the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor" and plunged the Catholic Church into political controversy over climate change.

In the first papal document dedicated to the environment, he called for "decisive action, here and now," to stop environmental degradation and global warming, squarely backing scientists who have said it is mostly man-made.

In the encyclical "Laudato Si (Praise Be), On the Care of Our Common Home", Pope Francis called for a change of lifestyle in rich countries steeped in a "throwaway" consumer culture and an end to "obstructionist attitudes" that sometimes put profit before the common good.