HONG KONG (SE): On October 18, the Diocesan Integral Commission for Human Development organized a rosary prayer service at St. Andrew’s Church in Tseung Kwan O for people displaced by climate change.
Participants attended the outdoor service barefoot, symbolically connecting with the struggles faced by climate refugees.
Jackie Hung Ling-yu of the commission explained that the inspiration for the event came from news reports about barefoot refugees in India, who were forced to leave their homes and farmland after climate change rendered the land unable to yield any crops. “They had no shoes, and the heat made it necessary for them to travel at night,” she said. “We can manage without shoes for one or two hours, but they had to endure a long and difficult journey.”
Led by an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, participants recited the rosary as they walked around the parish compound before gathering in the parish hall.
Guadalupe Father José Arturo De La Torre Guerrero led the rosary and later gave a talk emphasising the essential role of faith in addressing environmental challenges. Drawing on examples from Mexico and Africa, he explained that social division worsens environmental issues, while community cooperation can help repair ecosystems and build resilience.
Referencing Catholic teachings on ecology in Pope Francis’ encyclicals, Laudato Si’ and its 2023 follow-up, Laudate Deum, he urged everyone to stop exploiting the earth and to transform faith into action to protect the environment.
Another speaker, Professor Yam Chi-keung, publisher of Hong Kong’s Christian Times, explained that people can become climate refugees due to sudden events such as storms and floods, as well as gradual changes like droughts and environmental degradation. He pointed out that many are already displaced within their own countries, which contradicts the common misconception that climate refugees only come from small island nations.
Yam referenced a multinational scientific study highlighting that the “safe climatic space” essential for farming and human civilisation over the past ten thousand years is rapidly shrinking. He warned that this will impact billions of people worldwide in the next ten to thirty years.
