Pope, Indonesia’s grand imam sign declaration on climate change

Pope Francis and Indonesian Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar yesterday signed a joint declaration calling on religious leaders to deepen their cooperation in order to defend human dignity and fight climate change. Source: NCR Online.

The document, “Joint Declaration of Istiqlal 2024: Fostering Religious Harmony for the Sake of Humanity”, identifies climate change and dehumanisation as two serious crises facing the world today and states that interreligious dialogue is an effective tool for solving both local and global conflicts.

“The values shared by our religious traditions should be effectively promoted in order to defeat the culture of violence and indifference afflicting our world,” the declaration states.

“Indeed, religious values should be directed towards promoting a culture of respect, dignity, compassion, reconciliation and fraternal solidarity in order to overcome both dehumanisation and environmental destruction.”

Clocking in at under 400 words, the succinct declaration clearly identifies “human exploitation of creation” as a contributor to “climate change” and laments that the “ongoing environmental crisis has become an obstacle to the harmonious coexistence of peoples.”

While Christians and Muslims have historically lived harmoniously alongside one another in Indonesia, there has been a recent increase in clashes between the two faiths.

“It is particularly worrying that religion is often instrumentalised in this regard, causing suffering to many, especially women, children and the elderly,” the declaration states. “The role of religion, however, should include promoting and safeguarding the dignity of every human life.”

The declaration signing took place during the 87-year-old Pope’s second full day here in the Indonesian capital as part of a nearly two-week tour of southeast Asia and Oceania on what is the longest trip of his papacy.

Pope Francis speaks to representatives of Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and other religious communities during an interreligious meeting at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sept. 5.