Pope to lawmakers: Climate change requires quick consensus

By FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is urging lawmakers worldwide to overcome “the narrow confines” of partisan politics to quickly reach consensus on fighting climate change. The pope addressed parliamentarians who were in Rome on Saturday for a preparatory meeting before the U.N.’s annual climate conference, which begins in Glasgow, Scotland, on Oct. 31. Francis referred to a joint appeal that he and other religious leaders signed this week that calls for governments to commit to ambitious goals at the U.N. conference. Before his speech, Francis gave a private audience to Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. She called the pontiff’s 2015 encyclical exhorting people to protect the environment “a powerful challenge to the global community to act decisively on the climate crisis.”