KUALA LUMPUR – Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad has paid tribute to the late Pope Francis, calling him a tireless environmental advocate, whose voice resonated far beyond the Catholic world.
“With the passing of Pope Francis, the world has lost a tireless, outspoken advocate for the environment,” said the environment minister in an Instagram post.
The minister also lauded the late pontiff’s Laudato si, which he said “stressed the need for solutions to environmental degradation that consider the interconnected realities of poverty and social exclusion.”
Nik Nazmi also quoted the pope: “It is essential to seek comprehensive solutions which consider the interactions within natural systems themselves and with social systems. We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.”
Laudato si’ (Praise Be to You) is Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical that links environmental degradation with social inequality, calling for a unified approach to both. It urges global action to protect the planet and the poor, framing climate action as a moral duty.
Nik Nazmi, who authored Saving the Planet, noted that Francis had called for “radical reforms and for developed countries to take responsibility for the environmental and climate crisis.”
“People from all backgrounds found him an inspiring, endearing figure and a global conscience. Francis was a constant champion of the poor, insisting on the need for the inclusion of those on the margins of society,” he said.
“In a time of calcifying polarisation across societies, he never shied away from interfaith dialogue. He fearlessly called for an end to the violence in Gaza and elsewhere in the world.”
The minister extended his condolences to Catholics in Malaysia and around the world.
Pope Francis, who died yesterday at the age of 88, leaves behind a historic legacy as a religious leader who placed environmental care at the heart of his papacy with his bold and urgent calls to address climate change and ecological degradation.
Upon his appointment in 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina chose the name “Francis” in honour of St Francis of Assisi, the 13th-century friar known for his deep connection with nature and the poor. It was the first time a pope had taken that name.
Pope Francis convened world leaders, fossil fuel executives, and faith groups to confront the climate crisis, repeatedly stressing that environmental inaction would hurt the poorest the most.
Despite internal resistance from conservative factions, Francis shifted the Vatican’s stance to actively embrace climate action. His influence reached global climate summits, including the Paris Agreement in 2015, and his moral framing of environmental issues changed the tone of international discourse.
He declared environmental destruction a sin and labelled the earth’s degradation a “polluted wasteland full of debris, desolation, and filth.” – April 22, 2025