Pope calls for action to battle climate change

The world could see the destruction of entire ecosystems this century without urgent action on climate change, Pope Francis says in a draft of his keenly awaited encyclical on the environment.

In the Italian version of the 192-page document, posted by the weekly magazine l’Espresso, the pope again backs scientists who say global warming is mostly man-made and developed countries have a big responsibility to stem a trend that will hurt the poor the most.

That position has been contested by conservatives, particularly in the US, who have excoriated the first pontiff from Latin America for using scientific arguments.