San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said Caritas Philippines welcomes with great joy the election of Pope Leo XIV whose moral courage and deep concern for the most vulnerable offers renewed hope in this critical moment for humanity and the planet.
Caritas Philippines is the social action arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
Alminaza, Caritas Philippines vice president, said as the climate emergency intensifies — displacing families, destroying livelihoods, and threatening future generations — Pope Leo XIV’s call to “move from words to action” must not remain a slogan.
“We echo this urgent appeal and call on the global Church, governments, and all sectors of society to step up and respond with courage and conviction,” Alminaza said.
“We pray that under Pope Leo XIV’s leadership, the Church will stand even more firmly with communities on the frontlines of ecological collapse. We are ready to work alongside him in turning faith into action for the care of our common home,” he said.
Instead of “tyrannical dominion over nature” our task according to him must be a “relationship of reciprocity” with the environment, Alminaza said.
While cautioning us against the “harmful” consequences of technological development, he is more proactive by reiterating the Holy See’s commitment to protecting the environment through concrete examples, like solar panels installation and the shift to electric vehicles in the Vatican, Alminaza added.
As Bishop of San Carlos in Negros Island constantly faced and challenged by various faces of social inequalities, Alminaza also said he finds comfort and consolation that the new Pope, both as Augustinian missionary and as Bishop in Peru, has been through what we have been confronted in our island and the whole country.
It was reported that “Peru’s bishops reportedly played an important role in ensuring institutional stability during the successive political crises that led to the overthrows of successive presidents”, Alminaza said
BACOLOD BISHOP
Bacolod Bishop Patricio Buzon said “we rejoice and thank God for graciously gifting the Church with a new pastor in the person of Pope Leo XIV”.
“It is heartening to hear him as he greets us with Christ’s own Easter greeting, ‘Peace be with you’. The Pope’s first words for us cannot but reawaken hope in our hearts, long wearied by wars and divisions that tear nations, communities and families apart,” Buzon said.
The new pope firmly founds his message of hope on “God who loves us, all of us, without limits or conditions… Evil will not prevail [for] we are all in the hands of God”, Buzon added.
Buzon called for prayers for the new pope as “we work closely with him in building bridges so we can all be one people always in peace.”
DUMAGUETE BISHOP
Dumaguete Bishop Julito B. Cortes said “Let us support Pope Leo XIV through our prayers, as he navigates the responsibilities of leading the Church in a time when compassion, unity, and sensitivity to those who are in the peripheries are most needed”.
“His dedication to social justice, interfaith dialogue, care for creation, and the promotion of peace resonates with our calling to be true witnesses of Christ’s love in our own communities and to the world,” Cortes said.*