Brian Roewe

After more than a decade of community activism, a notorious oil drilling facility operating on land leased from the Los Angeles Archdiocese has been shuttered for good.

"Indifference and distance from one another have led to devastating consequences for God's creation, including the poor. The conversion that we need is both metaphorical and physical," the prelates wrote.

A longtime associate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a two-time presidential candidate, Jackson forged enduring alliances with Catholic priests, sisters and lay activists who marched, prayed and strategized alongside him in the struggle for racial and economic justice.

The Trump administration's erasure of the scientific finding that emissions driving climate change endanger public health drew condemnation from Catholic leaders, who characterized the move as morally indefensible.

Ecumenism Metro Chicago, a coalition of Chicago Christian leaders, is calling on federal and state lawmakers to "make every effort to replace all the lead water pipes in Illinois as quickly as possible."

Some 2,000 members of the Notre Dame community gathered in subfreezing temperatures to celebrate a candlelit Mass at St. Olaf Chapel, a student-constructed fleeting house of worship made from snow, ice and faith.

In Joliet, Illinois, Bishop Ronald Hicks oversaw a number of efforts to embed ecological concern deeper into Catholic life, including joining the Vatican's premier initiative to live out Pope Francis' call to care for God's creation.

The United States — the largest source of historical emissions and top user and producer of oil and gas — will stand as the only country in the world not part of the agreement.

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.