Giáo hoàng Francis kêu gọi cứu hành tinh gần ‘lâm nguy’

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The Catholic Church (giáo hội công giáo) convened (triệu tập) a major assembly of bishops (đại hội đồng giám mục) yesterday at the Vatican. These multiyear gatherings are generally used to discuss specific issues to better guide the church.

This synod (hội nghị tôn giáo) could represent the culmination (đỉnh cao) of Pope Francis’ papacy (triều đại giáo hoàng, nhiệm kỳ giáo hoàng), and lay the groundwork for change on issues like married priests (linh mục đã kết hôn) and gay unions. In what some consider a momentous innovation, Francis invited lay people (giáo dân), including women, to take part and vote in the meeting. Conservative bishops held their own gathering in opposition on Tuesday.

Francis also issued a major new document yesterday that urgently calls to save a planet near “the breaking point.”

...In the near decade since global fanfare (phô trương), plaudits (khen ngợi) from leaders and talk of a game-changing shift for the church greeted Francis’ first call to confront climate change, things have only gotten worse. The United Nations’ first official report card last month on the global climate treaty showed that countries have made only limited progress in staving off the most dangerous effects of global warming.

Extreme weather (thời tiết cực đoan) linked to climate change set records for average global temperatures this summer. Wildfires (cháy rừng) in Canada, Greece and Hawaii proved deadly and destructive (tàn khốc, tàn phá, phá hủy). Torrential rains (cơn mưa xối xả) flooded various parts of Europe, North Africa and the United States.