(Second Sunday of Lent-Year C; This homily was given on March 16, 2025 at Saint Augustine Church in Providence, Rhode Island; See Genesis 15:5-18 and Luke 9:28-36)
Seeking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through prayer
ROME — Pope Francis continues to improve and doctors are decreasing his mechanical oxygen supply during the night, the Vatican said on March 15.
« The clinical conditions of the Holy Father remained stable, confirming the progress highlighted in the last week, » said a Vatican statement released at 6:55 p.m. local time on Saturday (March 15).
The bulletin said that while Francis continues to receive high-flow oxygen therapy through nasal tubes during the day, he is being weaned off the mechanical ventilation he has used at night for nearly two weeks.
The report is the latest briefing from the pope’s medical team since their March 12 update that Francis’ most recent chest X-rays confirmed that he is continuing to heal from double pneumonia.
Although the pope’s doctors announced earlier this week that the pontiff is no longer in imminent danger, he still has pneumonia and chronic bronchitis, resulting in what doctors call a « complex » medical picture.
The pope is in his fifth week at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, and the Vatican has refused to speculate about a timeline for his release.
Francis continues both respiratory and physical therapy, and tonight’s medical bulletin noted that « these therapies, at present, are showing further, gradual improvements. »
At noon on Saturday, the Vatican announced that Francis, on March 11, approved a three-year plan focused on implementing the reforms initiated by his recent synod on synodality. The announcement is being widely viewed in Rome as a strong signal that Francis intends to continue as pope, despite speculation of a potential resignation following his prolonged hospitalization.
The push to make the Catholic Church more synodal — less clerical and encouraging greater participation of all its members — has been a signature project of Francis’ papacy. A report at the conclusion of October’s synod meeting called on the church to overhaul its seminary formation programs, involve the laity in the selection of Catholic bishops and to allow for greater participation of women in the church’s leadership.
The new timeline includes diocesan and continental evaluation stages that will culminate in a Vatican assembly in October 2028. The decision to approve and publish the timeline while the pontiff is in the hospital indicates not only his desire to increase momentum for the synod’s implementation but to ensure that it remains a priority for the global church.
The letter released March 15 was signed by secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Mario Grech. « The Holy Father hopes that this phase, as outlined in the Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis Communio (n. 7, arts. 19-21), receives particular attention so that synodality is increasingly understood and lived as an essential dimension of the ordinary life of local Churches and the entire Church, » he said in the letter to bishops.
On Friday (March 14), Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin — the Vatican’s secretary of state — celebrated Mass in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace for diplomats and ambassadors accredited to the Holy See to pray for the pope’s recovery.
« We gather in prayer this morning for the intention of the Holy Father’s health, that he may recover and return soon among us, » the cardinal said in his homily.
Earlier this week, on March 13, Francis celebrated the 12th anniversary of his election as pope. To mark the occasion, hospital staff presented the pontiff with a cake, decorated with 12 candles.
The Italian postal service announced this week that it has received a surge in letters being sent to the pope and the Vatican — resulting in up to 330 pounds of additional mail per day since the pope entered the hospital.
The Vatican on Sunday released the first photograph of Pope Francis since he entered the hospital a month ago to treat bronchitis, further indication that the pontiff’s health continues to improve.
The photo shows the pontiff in the chapel of his suite of rooms at Rome’s Gemelli hospital where the Vatican press office said the 88-year-old pope concelebrated Mass.
Earlier in the weekend, the Vatican said that doctors are decreasing his mechanical oxygen supply during the night.
« The clinical conditions of the Holy Father remained stable, confirming the progress highlighted in the last week, » said a Vatican statement released at 6:55 p.m. local time on Saturday (March 15).
The bulletin said that while Francis continues to receive high-flow oxygen therapy through nasal tubes during the day, he is being weaned off the mechanical ventilation he has used at night for nearly two weeks.
The report is the latest briefing from the pope’s medical team since their March 12 update that Francis’ most recent chest X-rays confirmed that he is continuing to heal from double pneumonia.
Although the pope’s doctors announced earlier this week that the pontiff is no longer in imminent danger, he still has pneumonia and chronic bronchitis, resulting in what doctors call a « complex » medical picture.
The pope is in his fifth week at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, and the Vatican has refused to speculate about a timeline for his release.
Francis continues both respiratory and physical therapy, and tonight’s medical bulletin noted that « these therapies, at present, are showing further, gradual improvements. »
At noon on Saturday, the Vatican announced that Francis, on March 11, approved a three-year plan focused on implementing the reforms initiated by his recent synod on synodality. The announcement is being widely viewed in Rome as a strong signal that Francis intends to continue as pope, despite speculation of a potential resignation following his prolonged hospitalization.
The push to make the Catholic Church more synodal — less clerical and encouraging greater participation of all its members — has been a signature project of Francis’ papacy. A report at the conclusion of October’s synod meeting called on the church to overhaul its seminary formation programs, involve the laity in the selection of Catholic bishops and to allow for greater participation of women in the church’s leadership.
The new timeline includes diocesan and continental evaluation stages that will culminate in a Vatican assembly in October 2028. The decision to approve and publish the timeline while the pontiff is in the hospital indicates not only his desire to increase momentum for the synod’s implementation but to ensure that it remains a priority for the global church.
The letter released March 15 was signed by secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Mario Grech. « The Holy Father hopes that this phase, as outlined in the Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis Communio (n. 7, arts. 19-21), receives particular attention so that synodality is increasingly understood and lived as an essential dimension of the ordinary life of local Churches and the entire Church, » he said in the letter to bishops.
On Friday (March 14), Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin — the Vatican’s secretary of state — celebrated Mass in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace for diplomats and ambassadors accredited to the Holy See to pray for the pope’s recovery.
« We gather in prayer this morning for the intention of the Holy Father’s health, that he may recover and return soon among us, » the cardinal said in his homily.
Earlier this week, on March 13, Francis celebrated the 12th anniversary of his election as pope. To mark the occasion, hospital staff presented the pontiff with a cake, decorated with 12 candles.
The Italian postal service announced this week that it has received a surge in letters being sent to the pope and the Vatican — resulting in up to 330 pounds of additional mail per day since the pope entered the hospital.
Catholic priests and nuns joined hundreds of activists demanding to stop a geothermal project on the predominantly Catholic Flores island in Indonesia, saying the project violates villagers’ land rights and damages the environment.
Protestors marched through public roads on March 12 to the office of Regent Raymundus Bena in Ngada Regency, demanding to revoke the permit for the project in Mataloko, run by the state’s electricity company, PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara.
« This project is killing us; it is only supporting the investors and their friends, » said the Alliance for Flores Geothermal Victims, which coordinated the protest in a statement.
Divine Word Fr. Felix Baghi, the alliance’s chairman, said the project has encroached on 996 hectares of indigenous people’s agricultural land in Mataloko.
The project started in 1998. But it has failed to generate electricity so far, with its former drilling hole continuing to emit hot mud up to 500 meters to one kilometer, damaging farmlands, Baghi said.
The protesters included Catholics from two parishes of the Archdiocese of Ende’s Commission for Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation. Priests of Franciscan and Divine Word congregations and seminarians of the Ledalero Institute of Philosophy and Creative Technology also joined.
Baghi said the project is being worked on again, while several new mudflows have reappeared since December, destroying the land, which is the primary source of villagers’ livelihood.
The project, if continued, « will result in the loss of thousands of hectares of agricultural, threatening the lives of local people, » he added.
« The Ngada Regency Government should be more critical in determining the priority, he added.
Maria Anjelina Mogi, an Indigenous villager in Mataloko, told UCA News that since the project started, her community « has suffered losses, both socially, economically, and environmentally. »
« If the government is with the people, revoking the permit must be its priority, » she said.
Despite its failure, the continuation of the project shows that it is a trial disregarding the fundamental rights of people and any environmental concerns, she said.
A similar protest rally was held in Jakarta on March 12 in front of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources office.
Protestors submitted to ministry officials a statement demanding the revocation of all geothermal permits in Flores, said Franciscan Fr. Yohanes Wahyu, who participated in the Jakarta protest.
Although the government claims geothermal energy is clean, the priest said several issues attached to it make the claim void.
The church peoples’ protest against the project intensified after Archbishop Paulus Budi Kleden of Ende spoke against the project in January, ending the official church’s silence on such projects.
According to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, Flores has a potential of 902 megawatts or 65% of the total capacity in East Nusa Tenggara province.
The authorities have identified 16 project sites on the island amid mounting resistance from local people.
A federal judge has denied a request from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to compel the Trump Administration to reinstate its contracts with the conference and resume paying it for expenses incurred in resettling refugees in the United States.
In a ruling issued March 11, which the bishops’ conference is appealing, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden wrote that the federal courts lack the authority to order the government to honor its recently terminated contracts with the bishops’ conference.
« The relief the Conference seeks in its preliminary injunction — reinstatement of contracts terminated by the Government — is beyond the power of this Court, » McFadden wrote in his 16-page decision.
On March 12, attorneys for the bishops’ conference filed notice that they were appealing McFadden’s ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Still, McFadden’s decision means that, at least for now, the bishops’ refugee resettlement contracts with the federal government remain canceled, and the conference will not be paid for the still-ongoing work of refugee resettlement. In court documents, the conference said it is still owed about $13 million in reimbursements from the federal government.
« While we do not agree with the Court’s decision, we will continue to advocate for refugees, » Chieko Noguchi, a spokesperson for the bishops’ conference, told National Catholic Reporter in an email.
« We are reviewing our options to ensure that the newly arrived refugees and their families, who were assigned to our care by the State Department, are not deprived of assistance promised to them by the United States, » Noguchi said.
McFadden’s decision is a setback for the conference, which filed its federal lawsuit on Feb. 18, almost a month after the Trump administration ordered all foreign aid to be frozen during a 90-day review.
The bishops’ lawsuit says the Trump Administration’s pause on foreign aid harmed newly arrived refugees and was a blow to the conference, the largest nongovernmental program to resettle refugees legally in the United States. The conference aids refugees through its Migration and Refugee Services.
Nearly 7,000 refugees had been assigned by the government to the bishops’ resettlement program, under two contracts, court records said, for the 2025 fiscal year that awarded the conference about $65 million for initial resettlement expenses.
On Jan. 24, the bishops’ conference received a letter from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration notifying it that its refugee resettlement contracts were « immediately suspended » pending a review of foreign assistance programs.
On Feb. 26, the State Department notified the bishops’ conference by letter that its refugee resettlement contracts were « immediately terminated » as of Feb. 27. The State Department’s letter ordered the conference to « stop all work » on the program and not to incur any new costs.
In a subsequent filing on Feb. 27, attorneys for the bishops’ conference wrote that the contracts’ terminations violated several federal laws and that the funding suspension continued « to inflict irreparable harm. »
Fifty of the conference’s staff members — more than half of its resettlement staff — have been laid off and more employees are at risk of losing their jobs, the bishops’ lawsuit said.
« Refugees may lose access to shelter, food, urgent medical care, English-language learning, job-training, and other services during their first days in the country, » the bishops’ attorneys wrote in a Feb. 19 memorandum.
Since 1980, the U.S. bishops conference has helped resettle more than 930,000 refugees under the government program.
The planet Mars has played an outsize role in human imagination since we first looked up at the stars. The fact that this red dot and other planets wandered the sky made them distinct from the stars that stayed in place. Its red glow made it stand out even among the other planets, leading the Sumerians and the Romans to name it after the god of war.
In the 19th century, telescopes were able to see what was thought to be channels on Mars, leading to speculation that there was intelligent life on the planet, which provided rich material for science fiction writers.
It was not until the late 20th century that dreams of space travel became a reality, as humans first orbited the Earth and then landed on the Moon. Going to Mars seemed like the next logical step, although many believed that first we should have a permanent base on the moon.
President Barack Obama decided to skip the moon base and go directly to Mars. During his first term in office, President Donald Trump reversed this decision and focused on the moon, a policy continued by President Joe Biden. Now Trump, under the influence of Elon Musk, has reversed government policy again to focus on Mars.
For generations raised on Star Trek and Star Wars, the dream of going into space is intoxicating. Proponents of the Mars mission argue that the technological spinoffs from NASA programs have been enormous. Satellites, for example, have brought us better communication and weather forecasts as well as GPS.
But attempting to go to Mars is on a whole other scale. It will be a black hole gobbling up all of NASA’s budget as well as funding for other science projects. Say goodbye to money for future telescopes, for unmanned trips to other planets and even for processing the data that we are currently receiving from NASA telescopes and probes.
It is ironic that Musk, who wants to slash the federal budget and workforce, is going to financially benefit from the Mars mission, which conveniently is not on the chopping block. This is a conflict of interest on a trillion-dollar scale. Since Musk was Trump’s biggest donor, this looks like corruption on a level never seen in American politics.
According to a 2016 NASA report, the first human mission to Mars could cost half a trillion dollars. The cost of the life support for the Mars mission could be $2 billion or more.
Given how NASA has underestimated the cost of almost every project, I would not trust any estimate, especially one made in 2016.
The International Space Station cost about $150 billion, with an additional $3 billion a year to operate. Compared to Mars, ISS is in our backyard. The Mars mission is more likely to cost 10- or 20-times what ISS cost.
The engineering challenges are enormous if humans are to survive the trip, live on Mars and safely return to Earth. The physiological challenges are also daunting.
During the nine-month trip to Mars, the spacecraft will have to provide for all the crew’s needs, including food, oxygen and protection from a hostile environment. Radiation in space is deadly. Without gravity, the body loses bone mass and muscle. On top of that is the psychological stress of living in a confined space. If anything goes wrong, there is no lifeboat or rescue possible.
Before the crew arrives, supplies, equipment and housing must be prepositioned on Mars in order to keep the crew alive. Landing supplies will be difficult since parachutes work poorly in the thin atmosphere. Nor is the atmosphere breathable, and radiation levels will eventually kill you.
Food and water will have to be shipped to Mars until we find and exploit water resources and grow food there. A single crop failure could wipe out the colony. Think Jamestown.
And then there is the return. We have not even been able to return rock samples from Mars, let alone a crew that would experience the same challenges they faced coming to the planet.
Elon Musk says we must go to Mars because if we destroy the Earth, humanity must have an alternative place to live.
In truth, Mars is currently in worse shape than any possible scenario for Earth short of an all-out nuclear war. Nor could a Mars colony survive into the foreseeable future without support from Earth.
It makes much more sense to spend money saving the Earth from climate change, ecological destruction and international conflicts than it does going to Mars.
Yes, we should go to Mars someday, but not in this century. Mars will still be there after we get our act together here on Earth.
Like JD Vance, I’m Catholic. In fact, like Vance, I’m an adult convert. Like Vance, I believe all life is sacred — although his support for the death penalty makes me wonder if we mean the same thing (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2267). Unlike Vance, however, I have no faith in Donald Trump’s leadership and, as a Canadian, I am deeply disturbed by Trump’s threats to annex my country.
But I want to thank Vance for something he said in his speech at the Munich Security Conference recently.
Not the part where he pretended not to know why some European governments might want to limit hate speech. Or the part where he criticized the Biden administration for having supposedly bullied social media companies into censorship — as if Elon Musk didn’t say that journalists should be jailed for doing their jobs, or as if his president doesn’t regularly disregard the media’s questions when they don’t suit him.
I mean the part where he asked European leaders what their positive vision is. He was right to ask what, precisely, they are defending. Of course, they could simply say their lives, but presumably any invading force would let at least most of them live. Life, Vance rightly implied, is not enough to justify a nation.
This is a question Canadians are grappling with more acutely than ever today, in the face of Trump’s distressing and disrespectful threats to annex Canada. Initially my reaction, like that of many Canadians, was one of fear. Fear of becoming part of a country with the highest medical expenses and medical debt in the world. Fear of becoming part of the developed country with the highest number of murders per capita in the world. Fear of becoming part of a country that, from my perspective, always seems to put country above both God and love. But that’s not a positive vision.
Like Vance, I have a lot of kids. Yet, unlike the American health care system, where the median cost to parents for delivering a baby is about $13,000, in Canada, it’s included in our public health care system. In total, my wife and I probably spent $100 on parking for the children we had. I’d say that makes Canada substantially more pro-life than the U.S., and I think that’s something worth fighting for.
On the topic of life, I know that Vance is very concerned about abortion, so I might add that the U.S. rate of abortion is almost 20% higher than that of Canada, despite Canada’s very permissive laws. Also, when my son had cancer, his surgery and chemotherapy were completely covered by our public health care system. Another win for life.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., children without insurance are 1.26 times more likely to die from cancer than those with insurance and have a shorter survival time. Call me Catholic, but I think no child should ever have to die because their family can’t afford treatment (CCC, No. 2411).
None of that is specific to Canada; most developed countries, besides the U.S., provide for health care for all citizens, regardless of ability to pay. Yet it is emblematic of a positive vision I think is worth defending, one the U.S. is not known for. A vision of a society where, consistent with Catholic doctrine, social relations are based on love and mutual respect for everyone’s inherent human dignity (CCC, No. 2423), profit is not the ultimate goal of the economy (CCC, No. 2424), and the government is committed to « reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view of the common good » (CCC, No. 2425) — someone should tell Musk that (although, as a billionaire atheist transhumanist, I doubt he’ll care). Of course, that’s a vision of a Catholic society, not necessarily Canada — but certainly not the U.S., from what I see.
For me, God is more important than my country, but my country is still worth fighting for. It’s my home, and it’s where I continue to learn what love is. Love is patient, like listening to Indigenous peoples whose lives were destroyed by Canada’s colonial residential school system. Love is kind, like the fact that medical care is available to all Canadians, regardless of ability to pay. Love does not envy, like the fact that people who live in a society like Canada’s, with a strong sense of community and social responsibility, don’t have to envy the success of others for fear they will suffer — although there are lots of things we could do to improve this. Love does not dishonor others and keeps no record of wrongs — these are values I learned in Canada, they are ingrained in Canadian political culture, and they are worth fighting for. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any of them from Trump in the way he talks about my country.
I am certain Vance shares these values. I also have no doubt that the European leaders he chastised share them too. They may not express them in the same terms, and they may even have different ideas about what they look like in practice, but they are, as Vance will immediately recognize, Christian values.
In fact, if anything is perplexing to me about Vance’s speech in Munich, it’s how he hardly mentioned Christianity at all. Perhaps he was trying to be prudent — a quintessential Catholic virtue — but I wonder if it’s also because so many of the things the Trump administration is currently doing, and the way it’s doing them, contradict Christian values.
About 29% of Canadians, like Vance, are Catholic, but no one calls Canada a Christian nation anymore. And it’s not perfect. Indeed, as Vance knows very well, there is no perfect thing on Earth.
But, to the extent that Canada is home to millions of people who are, in their own ways, individually and collectively, learning what it means to love their neighbors, and indeed their enemies too, just as the Gospel teaches, I think it’s worth fighting for, and I would appreciate it if, as one Christian to another, Vance and Trump could please start acting more like Jesus, who could see when others were healing in his name and told his disciples to leave them be, and less like Herod, who thought love meant he had to lose.
Pope Francis is no longer in imminent danger from double pneumonia his doctors announced for the first time on March 10.
« The improvements recorded in the previous days have further consolidated, as confirmed by both blood tests and clinical objectivity and by the good response to pharmacological therapy, » said a Vatican statement released at 7:50 p.m. local time on Monday evening. « For these reasons, the doctors have decided today to lift the prognosis. »
A Vatican source said that the pope’s underlying condition no longer presents an « imminent danger » to the 88-year-old pontiff, but that his underlying chronic conditions still reflect a complex medical picture.
For more than a week now, the Vatican’s daily updates have trended in an incrementally positive direction. The pontiff’s last known setback was on March 3, when Francis suffered two episodes of respiratory failure. Since then, however, his condition has consistently been described as « stable. »
« Given the complexity of the clinical picture and the significant infectious picture presented upon admission, it will be necessary to continue the pharmacological medical therapy in a hospital setting for additional days, » the Vatican medical bulletin continued.
Tonight’s announcement comes after the pope was first admitted into hospital on Feb. 14 for respiratory difficulties 25 days ago.
For the last week, the pope has alternated between receiving mechanical ventilation throughout the night and high-flow oxygen therapy via nasal cannulas during the day. A Vatican source said this continues to be the treatment regimen.
Over the weekend, the pope met with his two top deputies: Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, and Venezuelan Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, who serves at the sostituto (effectively, the chief of staff). Their March 9 meeting was their third in-hospital meeting with the ailing pontiff.
During the day on Monday (March 10), the pope participated remotely in the Lenten spiritual exercises currently taking place for the Roman Curia. The Vatican statement said the pope watched via video link while seated in an armchair in his hospital suite on the 10th floor of Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.
While the Lenten exercises are taking place this week, the nightly rosary prayer vigil for the recovery of the pope has been moved to take place directly following the retreat. Irish American Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, led the March 10 rosary.
The Vatican also announced that the pope has been made aware of the flash flooding that has claimed the lives of at least 16 people in his native homeland of Argentina and that the pontiff is praying for all affected by the disaster.
(First Sunday of Lent-Year C; This homily was given on March 8 & 9, 2025 at Saint Augustine Church in Providence, Rhode Island; See Luke 4:1-13)
Seeking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through prayer
Nations under the global biodiversity pact resolved unfinished business in late February, reaching deals on mobilizing funds and monitoring conservation commitments.
Faith groups who followed the resumed negotiations in Rome for the COP16 United Nations biodiversity summit applauded the developments and pledged to do their part to support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the international agreement that seeks « peace with nature » by reversing the rapid tide of ecosystem and species loss by midcentury.
They also welcomed a decision that will allow faith-based and other civil society organizations to report their own conservation commitments directly to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity that oversees the agreement.
« Our coalition is now focused on equipping our members with the resources and support to monitor GBF implementation within their communities, advocate for stronger commitments, and drive action toward a nature-positive world, » said Gopal Patel, co-coordinator of the Faiths for Biodiversity coalition.
The U.N. biodiversity summit officially concluded Feb. 28, four months after the biannual talks began in Cali, Colombia. It was the first meeting following the historic adoption in 2022 of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
Under the pact dubbed a « Paris Agreement for nature, » countries set four goals and 23 targets to halt biodiversity loss and restore natural ecosystems around the globe. As many as 1 million species are at risk of extinction, while climate change, mining, agriculture and deforestation threaten the planet’s most critical biomes. One of the GBF’s major aims is to designate at least 30% of lands and waters for conservation by 2030.
While in Colombia, negotiators for 195 nations — all but the United States and the Holy See — agreed to create a permanent advisory body for Indigenous peoples and local communities, but they were unable to reach consensus on several other matters. Those discussions restarted in February in Rome.
One issue not addressed in Colombia was finance, and in particular how to mobilize resources to developing countries, who have criticized existing structures as difficult to access and controlled by wealthy nations. In Rome, countries compromised on a road map to establish criteria to evaluate current financial structures and determine if a new entity is required. The selected fund is to be operating by 2030.
Flore Ghetti, a policy lead for Faiths for Biodiversity who followed the negotiations in Rome, said the deal was met with a standing ovation.
« If we did not reach consensus on this one, it would have been very difficult to adopt any other decisions, » she said.
Under the GBF, countries agreed to raise $200 billion annually by 2030 from public and private sources. Developed countries so far have committed roughly $11 billion of the $20 billion they pledged by 2025, a goal that increases to $30 billion annually in 2030.
Other decisions in Rome aimed to streamline biodiversity funding and to monitor countries’ progress in meeting nationally set conservation targets. So far, 47 countries have submitted biodiversity action plans and 125 have set new national targets.
Former U.S. President Joe Biden committed the country to its own 30×30 goal, though that is likely to be abandoned by the Trump administration.
Amy Echevarria, international coordinator for justice, peace and integrity of creation with the Missionary Society of St. Columban, said it was « heartening » to see countries make progress in Rome on key issues to protect and restore the biological web of life, « especially at a time when collaboration on the global stage is fragile, largely due to U.S. isolationism. »
As part of decisions about reporting and monitoring countries’ progress, negotiators also agreed to allow non-state actors, including faith-based organizations, to report their own work on implementing the biodiversity framework directly to the U.N. convention.
« It’s important because faith communities are on the frontline for biodiversity conservation, » said Ghetti, program coordinator on environmental sustainability and youth for Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist organization. « They are local communities most of the time. They work at the local level, they have a lot of projects on biodiversity restoration and conservation … and so it’s important for them to be able to report that. »
In Cali, the faith coalition released a new report detailing the work of 27 faith communities to restore degraded ecosystems and protect biodiversity.
While such documents spotlight some of the faith-based conservation, Ghetti said the ability to report directly through the biodiversity convention will allow more organizations to register their contributions to national biodiversity actions. Governments, however, retained the ability to object to publishing non-state actors’ inputs.
During the COP16 negotiations in Rome, countries also launched the Cali Fund, which directs a percentage of profits or revenue from companies using data from genetic resources in nature to conservation efforts, with at least half allocated to Indigenous people and local communities.
At the next biodiversity summit, scheduled for 2026 in Armenia, countries will take stock of their progress in implementing their biodiversity goals.
Faith groups say the focus in the interim must be on more nations submitting and enacting ambitious national biodiversity plans.
« The biodiversity crisis requires urgent action, » said Blair Nelsen, executive director of Waterspirit and U.N. representative for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. « As Pope Francis wrote in Laudate Deum, ‘The world sings of an infinite Love: how can we fail to care for it?’ «