ROME — Jesuit Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, President of the European Bishops’ Conferences (COMECE), said Wednesday that keeping to “the 1.5°C threshold for global warming is a profound moral imperative.”

The cardinal’s words came in a letter addressed to all leaders of the European institutions participating in the upcoming COP26 U.N. Climate Conference, in which he urges member states to assume global leadership in combating global warming.

The European Union (EU) is responsible for providing individual and collective contributions “to prevent ecological catastrophe,” he declares.

If humanity fails to curb global warming “the ramifications for all living beings and the planet will be disastrous,” Hollerich states.

“The COVID pandemic has brought to light the fact that everything is interconnected and interdependent and that our health is inextricably linked to the health of the environment in which we live,” Hollerich states.

“The Earth cries out and those cries have taken the form of soaring temperatures with records being broken across many regions,” he writes, “of deadly floods and wildfires devastating communities across Europe and the world; of material loss compounded by social and psychological trauma.”

The cardinal places himself firmly in the camp of those who insist that nothing short of a drastic change in lifestyles will save the planet from impending doom.

“It is our collective responsibility to radically change our lifestyles, to put an end to mindless consumerism and predatory resource exploitation and to live in harmony within planetary boundaries,” he states.

In his letter, the cardinal makes specific demands and accusations, calling for “an immediate end to new investment in fossil fuel infrastructure” as well as phasing out “without further delay” counter-productive subsidies that prolong the dependence of communities on fossil fuels.

“Special attention needs to be given to the exceedingly polluting airline and shipping industries,” he declares, whose contribution to combating climate change is “completely inadequate.”