Don Bosco Green Alliance participates in the international symposium on 'The Catholic Church at COP30’

(ANS - Belém) - On the afternoon of 12 November 2025, the international symposium ‘The Catholic Church at COP30’ took place in Belém, Brazil, bringing together some 500 personalities from different regions of Brazil and the world, with the aim of reflecting on and discussing the paths of integral ecology, climate justice and ecological conversion.

The event took place during the Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP30), being held these days in Belém, gateway to the Brazilian Amazon. The symposium was part of the process of reflections promoted by the Catholic Church, called Pre-COP, which went through the five macro-regions of Brazil, in which different interlocutors reflected and discussed the commitment to climate justice and integral ecology.

The symposium began with the blessing of Our Lady of Nazaré, led by the Archbishop of Belém, Júlio Akamine, who was also the first to greet the participants, as the meeting's host.

From the speakers' table, personalities of the highest level then intervened, truly representing the Church from all over the world:

• Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro, Apostolic Nuncio in Brazil;

• Archbishop Jaime Spengler, President of the Brazilian Bishops' Conference;

• Cardinal Filipe Neri, President of the Bishops' Conference of Asia;

• Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar;

• Cardinal Ryan Rimenes, President of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific;

• and Cardinal Ladislav Nemet, Vice President of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences.

During the panel discussion, participants reflected on topics such as ‘Energy Transition and Care for the Poor’, ‘The Human Being at the Centre of a New Economy’, ‘Sunken Islands in the Pacific’ and ‘The Church in Europe and Ecological Conversion’.

After the opening, a panel on ‘Dialogues for Integral Ecology’ was held, moderated by Bishop Vicente de Paula Ferreira, President of the Special Commission on Mining and Integral Ecology. Participating in the panel discussion were:

• Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassotto, Bishop of the Anglican Church of Brazil, who addressed the topic ‘Eco-spirituality and the prophetic mission of the Church in Amazonia’;

• Cardinal Leonardo Steiner, Archbishop of Manaus, who explored the theme ‘Paths of integral ecology for ecological conversion’;

• Kleber Karipuna, representative of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), who spoke on the ‘Presence of the original peoples of the Brazilian Amazon, with their struggles and perspectives’;

• and professor and ecologist Ima Vieira, who presented a scientific diagnosis of climate change, with evidence and practical solutions.

The event was also attended by a delegation from the worldwide Salesian ecological initiative the Don Bosco Green Alliance, including a representative from the St John Bosco Province of Belo Horizonte, Brazil (BBH), Camila de Paula, who emphasised the importance of the symposium and the other moments of dialogue taking place during COP30.

According to her, ‘these days we are invited to broaden our perception of the climate crisis, especially in relation to the effects caused by the way we inhabit planet Earth and relate to all of Creation.’

After this moment of reflection and dialogue, the participants organised a procession in memory of the martyrs who fought for the defence of the original peoples and life in the Amazon biome, which marched towards the Basilica of Our Lady of Nazaré.

The event concluded with a Eucharistic celebration presided over by Cardinal Jaime Spengler, Archbishop of Porto Alegre and President of the CNBB and the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM), who in his homily called for inner conversion, in the face of the growing environmental and human crisis affecting the planet.