Brian Roewe

With the death of Pope Francis, the introduction of Pope Leo XIV and major shifts in the U.S. away from climate and clean energy policies, there's no doubt 2025 has been a momentous year on the faith-and-environment beat. 

Just in time for the 10-year anniversary of Laudato Si' and Christmas, the independent, lay-led program has planted 1,000 trees throughout the archdiocese's massive geographic footprint — but they're not stopping yet.

Assessing where the world stands with climate change a decade after the Paris Agreement is difficult. But in attempting to do so, it's important to remember, as many observed at the time, what it was: not the end of something, but rather a start.

Nearly 200 countries at the U.N. climate talks did little to counteract papal criticism that "failing" political will is undermining global efforts against global warming, say Catholic officials who attended the COP30 summit.

A cultural change is badly needed to shake climate negotiations from its too-prevalent low ambition, say people of faith involved in the Global Ethical Stocktake.

Caritas projects offer a sign of hope that solutions to climate change, whether mitigating heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions or adapting to impacts like more severe heatwaves and storms, can in fact work.

"We're not going to see that money coming back," said Alistair Dutton, Caritas Internationalis secretary general, who spoke with NCR about the ramifications of cuts in funding for international development.

The U.N. meeting in the Amazon runs Nov. 10-21. It comes a decade after the Paris Agreement, a historic deal where for the first time nearly 200 countries committed to reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions.

At a dialogue on labor and the environment in Appalachia, Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, lent his support to union-led boycotts to "foster a more just economy, more humane world."

For CRS, the days since the Oct. 10 ceasefire have focused on reestablishing its networks, reconnecting with its distribution centers and reassessing need after two years of war and near-daily bombardments in Gaza.

The Holy See said it will cut its emissions within the Vatican City State by at least 28% by 2035 compared to 2011 levels.  

"In the face of this deepening crisis, how do we dare raise hope? Our answer is this: We do it together," said Yeb Sano, board director for the Laudato Si' Movement.

The pope spoke Oct. 1 at the start of a conference marking the 10-year anniversary of Laudato Si', Pope Francis' landmark document that encapsulated church teaching on the environment. 

"My Catholic faith compels me to urge you to leave the Endangerment Finding in place," wrote Patricia Sills-Trausch, a staff member at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, Arizona.

A new advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice says a healthy environment is a foundational human right and nations are required to act on climate change — or face consequences.

A global treaty to address plastic pollution remains elusive, but Catholic environmental activists remain hopeful for the reduction of this fossil fuel product that harms people and planet.

Pope Leo's first 100 days have provided insight into how he will engage with environmental crises, from climate change, to deforestation and pollution, to the health impacts of a new technological revolution.

For religious organizations, loss of the rebates jeopardizes financing options for clean energy projects and is expected to result in millions of dollars less in energy cost savings that could otherwise be reinvested in other church ministries and programs.

The 34-page letter sounding the alarm on climate change is the first-ever joint appeal issued by the continental conferences of Catholic bishops in Latin America, Africa and Asia, representing 821 million Catholics.

Continued engagement with the Vatican-sponsored Laudato Si' Action Platform suggests persistence of Catholic ecological efforts after Pope Francis' death and into the second decade since Laudato Si' was published.