EarthBeat

In an exclusive, RNS is publishing the leaked minutes of a heavenly committee on the future of humanity and the Earth, weighing in on global warming's progression, which if not stopped will have catastrophic consequences for the planet and its inhabitants.

Assuring the crowd of the sustainable harvesting of the tree, the pope compared the rings in the 98-foot-tall tree to the generations of believers gathering around the single image of Jesus.

Vatican journalists were escorted inside the Vatican, passing through a parking lot with still-wrapped electric car charging stations, as the city-state continues in its effort to achieve zero emissions. Francis, sitting on his wheelchair, met with 15 members of the creative and directive team of Mercedes-Benz, which has been a key provider of popemobiles for the Vatican for almost 100 years, though this is the company’s first fully electric offering.

With the aim to improve native crop farming capacity within villages, Caritas Bangladesh promotes ways for farmers to identify and save indigenous seeds as well as natural methods for cultivating them.

Negotiations in South Korea were expected to deliver a treaty on plastics two years in the making, but the U.N. meeting adjourned early Dec. 2 with delegates for some 170 nations still deadlocked on key issues.

A national body of Catholic religious working for justice and peace in India has vowed to protect mother earth from "merciless invasions" that create ecological imbalances and climate change. 

Pope Francis received a new, emission-free, all-electric popemobile from representatives of Mercedes-Benz, the German car manufacturer that has been supplying vehicles for the popes for nearly 100 years.

Catholic leaders in Central America expressed alarm over the idea of repealing a national prohibition on extractive activities in El Salvador — putting the church in opposition to the country's popular president.