During Laudato Si' Week, 24 Catholic entities divest from fossil fuels

Friday, May. 29, 2020

CLEVELAND (CNS) — The justice and peace commission of the Bangladeshi bishops’ conference as well as dioceses in Brazil, Indonesia and Ireland are among the latest institutions announcing their intent to divest from fossil fuel companies.

The entities are among 24 Catholic and 18 other faith institutions in 14 countries that have decided to divest or to avoid investments in oil, coal, natural gas and other carbon-based energy sources, the Global Catholic Climate Movement said.

The May 18 announcement came as Catholics worldwide were observing Laudato Si’ Week to mark the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis signing his encyclical on the environment and the common good May 24, 2015.

Daniela Finamore, divestment campaign coordinator with the Global Catholic Climate Movement, said it was important to continue the four-year-old divestment campaign in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“During this moment of lockdown, there was an important need from other communities to communicate more, to stay close even if remotely,” Finamore told Catholic News Service from Italy. “We realized it was important to tie the week to the divestment announcement, to show that there is a strong message of hope at this moment of crisis.”

The faith community, she said, wanted to share the message that “we need to change the curve (on using fossil fuels) and not go back to the way things were before the lockdown, that this is the right moment to invest in the right things, in the resilience of our communities.”

The divesting entities include the Archdiocese of Semarang, Indonesia, the dioceses of Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, Arundel and Brighton, England, and Ossory, Ireland.

Father Endra Wijayanta, director of the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission, of the Archdiocese of Semarang, said the global pandemic caused by the new coronavirus offers the faithful a time to reflect and act in response to environmental concerns.