The Vatican Calls for Catholics to Get Rid of Fossil Fuel Investments

In honor of the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si”, or Praised Be, The Vatican has written to Catholics all over the world, imploring them to drop their fossil fuel investments, among other requests that take into consideration showing kindness to planet earth as well as other human beings. These action steps laid out by the Vatican show Catholics ways that they can help the church to achieve the goals that were laid out in the 2015 letter.

The letter was titled ‘Journeying Towards Care For Our Common Home’ and the pages highlighted the idea of Catholics considering “excluding from their investments companies that do not satisfy certain parameters... [Catholics should] shun companies that are harmful to human or social ecology, such as abortion and armaments, and to the environment, such as fossil fuels”.

The Pope went on to say that "we know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels — especially coal, oil and to a lesser degree gas—needs to be progressively replaced without delay."

This is because of, as he acknowledged, the serious danger that climate change poses to Earth. Pope Francis reasoning that followers of the Catholic religion should drop their support of all fossil fuel companies in favor of more sustainable, eco-friendly businesses, urging them to adopt "favor[ing] positive changes."