The head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, gave a warning to 50 top oil company executives about the threat to humanity from fossil fuels. At a private meeting in the Vatican on Saturday, he urged oil companies to switch to renewable energies for the sake of our planet. He said fossil fuels were a driver of climate change and that global warming represented a challenge of "epochal proportions". He said companies must act quickly and that there was no time to lose. He warned that: "With each month that passes, the challenge of energy transition becomes more pressing."
Pope Francis explained how important it was to use greener energy. He said: "The energy question has become one of the principal challenges...facing the international community. The way we meet this challenge will determine our overall quality of life." Francis said fossil fuels led to poverty and war. He said they affect, "the real possibility either of resolving conflicts in different areas of our world or of...providing them with new fuel to destroy...human lives." He added: "Energy use must not destroy civilization....Clean energy is a duty that we owe...generations yet to come."