Pope Francis and the SDGs

Pope Francis' first visit to the United States marks a moment when unacknowledged connections became crystal clear: our moral responsibility to take care of the poor dovetails precisely with the need to care for our planet, writes WRI President and CEO Andrew Steer. Learn more on this timely visit below...

A trifecta of events in coming weeks may mark a profound shift for people and the planet. Pope Francis’s first visit to the United States marks a spiritual moment that brings an intense focus to the world’s neediest people. His arrival comes just as the new Sustainable Development Goals are about to be formalized. Then, in just three months, the world will likely unite around the first-ever global climate agreement in Paris.

When we look back at this time, perhaps we’ll see this as the moment when previously unacknowledged connections became crystal clear: our moral responsibility to take care of the poor dovetails precisely with the need to care for our planet. Both, in turn, are part of our spiritual journey here on Earth.

That’s the main theme of the pope’s message to the U.S. Congress, the United Nations and millions of others — to Roman Catholics and far beyond.

The pope’s encyclical letter on the environment, Laudato Si, makes the case for “the intimate relationship between the poor and the fragility of the planet” and speaks of the pope’s conviction that “everything in the world is connected.”