Actor and environmental activist Arnold Schwarzenegger flew in to join Pope Leo XIV in Rome on Tuesday to address a climate conference and deliver a message for all the Catholics in the world that the time has come to “terminate climate change.”
AFP reports the three-day gathering marks the 10th anniversary of late Pope Francis’s landmark climate manifesto “Laudato Si”, an appeal for action on human-caused global warming.
Ahead of the event, Schwarzenegger downplayed the Trump administration’s climate skepticism and threw his weight behind the Vatican’s environmental initiative.
Cardinal Jaime Spengler, Arnold Schwarzenegger and sister Alessandra Smerilli attend “Raising Hope for Climate Justice” Press Conference at the Holy see Press Office on September 30, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
The actor maintained individual choice, local regulations and the Catholic Church’s moral leadership were far more important to “terminate” global warming.
U.S.-born Pope Leo, elected in May following Francis’s death, has taken up his predecessor’s rallying cry, insisting it is time to swap words for “decisive and coordinated climate action.”
Schwarzenegger agrees. He told a press conference at the Vatican it was “very important” for the Catholic Church to throw its weight behind the global challenge.
“There is not one single person who can ‘terminate’ pollution alone,” he observed, continuing a long-standing call for immediate action on climate matters.
“We have to work together. You have 1.4 billion Catholics in the world, and you have 200,000 churches, and you have approximately 400,000 priests. Imagine the power of communication,” Schwarzenegger added.
“Every single one of those 1.4 billion Catholics can be a crusader for the environment.”
Schwarzenegger will tell the conference — which brings together bishops, climate and biodiversity experts, indigenous leaders and civil society representatives — there was a chance to harness “people power.”
The former Republican governor of California has devoted time to environmental causes since leaving political office in 2011, once confessing he is “starstruck” and totally enamoured by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
He previously called for a “grassroots revolution” to continue the battle against global warming after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement during his last administration.
Over 1,000 religious leaders, “climate experts,” and political leaders are set to meet in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome on October 1-3 for the Vatican’s “Raising Hope for Climate Justice” conference.
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