Sitka climate activist has visit with pope in Rome
- Daily Sitka Sentinel
- Nov 6, 2025
- 3 min read
By Shannon Haugland
Daily Sitka Sentinel
When Elizabeth Bagley received an email from a representative of Pope Leo XIV inviting her to a climate change conference near Rome, she was sure it was spam.
“We are pleased to request your presence at an invitation-only global conference for the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’ that will take place in October,” said the email from the conference committee.
“So like any good person who’s making sure they don’t click on spam, I looked at the website that they linked,” she said. “It seemed legitimate.”
It was. She kept reading, saw the list of speakers and could see it was a sincere invitation to Bagley to attend the “Raising Hope for Climate Justice” conference October 1-3. The event was organized by the Laudato Si’ Movement, aimed at climate action, justice and partnership, and it garnered major international media coverage.
Bagley is the managing director of Project Drawdown, a science based nonprofit focused on climate change solutions. So getting an invitation for an international conference wasn’t completely out of left field.
She dug further into the website, and saw the list of speakers and participants who are powers in the fight against climate change. Among them was Katherine Hayhoe, a scientist and evangelical Christian, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who in recent years has become a climate philanthropist.
“So, yeah, I registered,” she said.
The conference was held in Castel Gondolfo, home to the historic papal palace. The list of attendees was diverse, and included people from all faith communities, and representatives of secular climate-focused groups.
The stated purpose in the invitation was to “cultivate relationships and sharpen our sense of purpose together.”
Besides listening to speakers and engaging in small group discussions, Bagley said, she and the others left the event with renewed energy to “care for our common home.”
“That phrase came from Pope Francis in Laudato Si’, on care for our common home,” Bagley said.
Laudato Si’, issued by the late pope in 2015, is a letter addressed to “every living person on this planet" and calls for a global dialog about how we’re shaping the future of our planet through our daily actions and decisions,” said the nonprofit Laudato Si’ Movement on the organization’s website.
Francis was pope from 2013 to 2025, and was outspoken about climate change and its connection to poverty and social justice. The conference reflected on some of Francis’ work to raise awareness on the need to take action to address climate change.
“We are faced not with two separate cries, one environmental, and the other social,” Francis wrote, “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.”
Pope Leo XIV was elected on May 8, and the Raising Hope gathering was the first time he addressed climate change. Bagley said it was heartening to hear Pope Francis’ message continuing. Pope Leo said taking climate action is about more than protecting the environment.
“It is about how we relate to the vulnerable, to Earth, to each other,” he told the conference in his speech on October 1.
Bagley said she’s glad she went, for what she learned, and the connections she formed from around the globe in the effort to stop climate change.
“Climate action doesn’t happen in a vacuum and being with such a diverse group of people who are committed to creating a better world for current and future generations was really inspiring and motivating,” she said.
Bagley’s organization, Project Drawdown, is an independent international organization driving meaningful climate action by connecting people to science-based climate solutions and strategies. The organization has 25 employees around the country who work remotely.
Bagley is originally from Spring Valley, Wisconsin, and earned her undergraduate, master’s and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She moved to Sitka, where her husband is from, during the pandemic.
On her way to the conference in Italy, Bagley was one of the speakers at New York City Climate Week. After the conference, her parents, who are lifelong Roman Catholics, joined her in Rome and Vatican City, where they heard the Pope speak.
“It was really special to experience Rome together for the first time,” Bagley said.
Asked how her participation in the Raising Hope conference could translate into action, she said Sitkans are engaged in so many ways in working to address climate change. Joining the Sustainability Commission, or going to the meetings, would give any Sitkan a look at communitywide efforts. Her organization's jointheshift.earth is a guide to "meaningful climate action that makes a real difference."
• This story originally appeared in the Daily Sitka Sentinel.
