NEW YORK – Pope Francis declared Friday that there is a “right of the environment” and that mankind has no authority to abuse it, telling more than 100 world leaders and diplomats at the United Nations that urgent action is needed to halt the destruction of God’s creation.
Hoping to spur concrete commitments at upcoming climate change negotiations in Paris, Francis accused the world’s powerful countries of indulging a “selfish and boundless thirst” for money by ravaging the planet’s natural resources and impoverishing the weak and disadvantaged in the process.
He asserted that the poor have inherent rights to education and what he has termed the “three L’s” — lodging, labour and land.
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Francis’ speech, the fifth by a pope to the U.N., was a distillation of his recent teaching document on the environment, “Praise Be,” which has delighted liberals and environmentalists and drawn scorn from big business interests.
By bringing the document to life before the U.N., Francis made clear his priorities.
“Any harm done to the environment, therefore, is harm done to humanity,” he said.
WATCH: ‘Harm to environment is harm to humanity’: Pope repeats climate change warning
Francis’ speech kicked off what was expected to be a whirlwind day in New York that blended the powerful and the poor, from the solemnity of ground zero to the struggles of East Harlem.
His visit was scheduled to include events as large as a processional drive through Central Park, as personal as meetings with schoolchildren and immigrants, and as inspiring for the faithful as Mass for thousands at Madison Square Garden.
Pope Francis talks with United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations headquarters, Friday, Sept. 25, 2015.
Francis was greeted on his arrival at the U.N. by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a key supporter of his eco-friendly agenda. In his opening remarks, Ban praised Francis for his moral leadership.
“You are at home not in palaces, but among the poor; not with the famous, but with the forgotten; not in official portraits, but in ‘selfies’ with young people,” he said.
Among those in the audience for Francis’ speech was Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousefzai, the young Pakistani education campaigner who was shot and gravely wounded by the Taliban. She will be addressing the U.N. summit later. Also on hand were German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Bill and Melinda Gates.
While his visit marked the fifth time a pope has addressed the United Nations, the Vatican flag was raised for the first time just before Francis’ arrival. The General Assembly recently agreed to allow the U.N.’s two observer states, the Holy See and Palestine, to fly their flags alongside those of the 193 member states.
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Speaking in the packed General Assembly hall, Francis stated that “a right of the environment” exists.
He said the universe is the result of a “loving decision by the creator, who permits man respectfully to use creation for the good of his fellow men and for the glory of the creator: He is not authorized to abuse it, much less destroy it.”
WATCH: The Pope calls for an effective distribution of power and the creation of a juridical system to create a way of limiting power to preserve the rights of the people
Echoing his encyclical’s key message, he said a “selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak and disadvantaged.”
He called for immediate access for the world’s poor to adequate food, water and housing, as well as religious freedom.
He drew applause when he called for a reform of the U.N. system and international financial agencies to give poor countries a greater say.
WATCH: Pope Francis pleads with UN to help countries in economic crisis
That, he said, would ensure that they aren’t subjected to “oppressive lending systems, which, far from promoting progress, subject people to mechanisms which generate greater poverty, exclusion and dependence.”
Pope Francis asserts sacredness of life at every stage
While his speech carried a progressive social message, Francis also made clear that he firmly upholds the church’s unchanging doctrine on life issues: He called for the “absolute respect for life in all its stages” — including the unborn. He cited “moral law written in nature itself” in insisting there is a natural difference between men and women. The Catholic Church has been on a campaign to denounce “gender theory” and the idea that people can choose their sex.
And he repeated his denunciation of the “ideological colonization” of the developing world — a reference to how Western, progressive ideas about contraception and gay rights are often imposed on poor nations as a condition for development aid.
WATCH: Pope Francis visits Ground Zero memorial, holds moment of silence
After the U.N., the pope was scheduled to visit the 9-11 memorial, where two waterfall pools mark the outlines of the World Trade Center’s twin towers before they were toppled by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
He was expected to meet relatives of some of the nearly 3,000 victims before heading belowground to the Sept. 11 museum for an interfaith service.
Francis’ plans for Friday afternoon reflected the penchant of the “people’s pope” for engaging with the public.
First on the agenda was a visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels School, set amid public housing in the heavily Hispanic neighbourhood of East Harlem.
READ MORE: In New York, chance to see pope in Central Park like hitting the lottery
Known for ministering to the downtrodden in his native Buenos Aires, Francis was set to meet schoolchildren and offer a special blessing to refugees and immigrants, including people living in the country illegally.
Then he was to greet as many as 80,000 onlookers during a drive through Central Park, en route to Mass for 18,000 at Madison Square Garden.
On Thursday, in Washington, the pope waded into bitter disputes while speaking to Congress, entreating the nation to share its immense wealth with those less fortunate. He also urged the nation to abolish the death penalty, fight global warming and embrace immigrants.
Francis wraps up his U.S. visit this weekend in Philadelphia, where he speaks in front of Independence Hall and celebrates Mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to close out a big rally on Catholic families.
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Associated Press writers Deepti Hajela, Edith Lederer, Cara Anna, William Mathis, Jackie Snow and Rachel Zoll in New York contributed to this report.
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