Contact: Michael Mershon, Director of Advocacy and Communications
202-745-4654
Washington, DC - To mark Pope Francis' visit to the United States, Sojourners has partnered with NextGen Climate to convene key interfaith leaders and activists to welcome the Pope and his call to action on climate change. The effort, including a full-page advertisement Friday in the New York Times and several other newspapers, features a letter signed by 36 interfaith leaders and activists including Rev. Jim Wallis, President and Founder of Sojourners. The ad supports the Pope's call for climate action and highlights what he calls "Integral Ecology." The ad directs people to a website, www.up-to-us.net, where they can add their own names in support of the Pope.
In the letter, Rev. Wallis and other leaders reiterate the Pope's appeal to preserve an environment "belonging to all and meant for all," as Pope Francis calls it, and urges people of all faiths to "act swiftly and boldly to address" climate change. Faith leaders representing Evangelical and mainline Protestants, Catholics, Islam, Judaism, and other faiths signed onto the letter to support the Pope's message that by caring for the earth people can care for each other, especially the poor and marginalized. In preparation for the visit, Rev. Wallis has written that Pope Francis "is changing the global public discussion about what is compassionate, just, good, and right - and Christian."
Rev. Wallis is the author of books such as New York Times Bestseller God's Politics: Why the Right is Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It and The (Un)Common Good: How the Gospel Brings Hope to a Divided World. Rev. Wallis also founded Sojourners, a Christian organization that focuses on advocacy and publications discussing social justice, over 40 years ago. Sojourners magazine and Sojourners online publication articulate the biblical call for social justice to thousands of readers. Sojourners also works with coalitions, advocacy groups, and other faith leaders to advance that call through community organizing, political advocacy, and engaging churches all over the United States.
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