Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew agree on the fact that “no individual nation can be blamed for the ecological crisis just as no individual nation can now back off from responsible action against climate change”. Rev. John Chryssavgis, theological adviser to the Ecumenical Patriarchate on ecological and environmental affairs, said this in an interview with SIR news agency, one year after the publication of the encyclical Laudato si’ and following the United States’ decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. “One thing we have learned over the past decades – Rev. Chryssavgis continued – is that no institution or discipline can solve the ecological crisis alone”. “We are all collectively responsible for the way in which our greediness has destroyed diversity and depleted our planet’s resources. We all therefore need to address the challenge of climate change together. According to the theological adviser to the Patriarchate, the strongest point made by Pope Francis is that “preserving nature is inseparable from serving our neighbour. They are two faces of the same coin. Indeed, Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew have repeatedly stressed the deep connection between environmental justice and social justice, reaffirming their solidarity with the people who suffer from war and persecution, and from poverty and hunger”, aware of the “role that the Church can play”.