Catholic bishops’ conferences from Asia, Africa and Latin America have issued their first joint ecological appeal, demanding “climate justice for the most affected” regions ahead of the United Nations COP30 summit scheduled for November in Belém, Brazil. The document denounces carbon markets, mining for clean-tech minerals and other “false solutions” it says perpetuate a “green economy” that benefits corporations while leaving vulnerable communities exposed to worsening heat, drought and extreme weather. Unveiling the text at the Vatican, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the archbishop of Kinshasa, said, “We, the pastors of the South, demand climate justice as a human and spiritual right.” The bishops urge wealthy countries to abandon fossil fuels, settle what they call a mounting “ecological debt” and fund loss-and-damage assistance without saddling the Global South with new financial burdens. The appeal coincides with Pope Leo XIV’s message for the 10th World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, titled “Seeds of Peace and Hope.” In the statement, the pontiff warns that “our earth is in decay” because of human-driven climate change, deforestation and pollution, and stresses that environmental justice is a social, economic and theological imperative. He highlights the disproportionate suffering of indigenous and poor communities and cites the Vatican-backed ‘Borgo Laudato Si’’ project as a model of integral ecology in action. Taken together, the bishops’ manifesto and the pope’s call for ecological conversion intensify pressure on industrialized nations to accelerate emission cuts and provide substantial financing for adaptation and loss-and-damage ahead of COP30 negotiations.