STUDENTS from St Joseph’s Catholic College answered a call from the Pope to do their bit to tackle climate change this week, joining a lobby of MPs in Parliament.

On Thursday, June 18, Pope Francis released an Encyclical – a letter to people worldwide – calling on everyone to take better care of the environment and the planet.

But St Joe’s pupils 13-year-old Finn, and 14-year-olds Binet, Ron and Joseph began answering the call early when they travelled to Westminster with their maths teacher George Timuri on Wednesday to join the Speak Up For The Love Of… event, which called on MPs to back action to tackle climate change.

The youngsters met South Swindon MP Robert Buckland and North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson.

They urged them to push for a global agreement on tackling the changing climate and support the move towards clean and sustainable energy for everyone.

Finn said: “It’s really special to be able to come to London and meet our MP and get our questions answered.

“Protecting the environment and the planet is important for me – it’s our world and we’ll grow up with this so the earlier we start treating it as we should the better.”

Binet said: “It’s really exciting being here with so many thousands of people.

“I feel part of a community and the more people who act now the more will get done.

“We really want our politicians to listen to us as to how important this is to us, especially as young people who will be seeing the effects of climate change.”

Maths teacher George Timuri said: “It’s important to inspire young people to be aware of global issues and for them to know that they do have a voice and they will be heard.

“They are the future, the ones that will feel the impact of climate change.

“They felt listened to and proud they had a voice today and I’m very proud of them.”

David Brinn, the Swindon manager of Catholic charity CAFOD, was delighted the youngsters had answered the Pope’s call.

He said: “We’re delighted that CAFOD supporters and young people are responding to Pope Francis’s call to action.

“Climate change is the single biggest threat to reducing poverty.

“It’s already hitting communities CAFOD works with in some of the poorest countries in the world.

“More severe cyclones and typhoons are destroying homes and more frequent droughts mean that people are having to leave their countries.

“It’s also affecting us here in the UK, whether through our favourite foods becoming more expensive or through the increased risk of flooding to houses in some areas.

“The fact is that world leaders have real opportunities in the coming months and years, including at a meeting in Paris in November and December, to agree to cut the use of polluting fossil fuels.

“We’d like to thank groups such as St Joseph’s for adding their voice to those calls.”

The Encyclical, called Laudato Si which means ‘on the care of our common home’, states action by everyone is necessary in order to prevent environmental damage such as climate change impacting on the poorest and most vulnerable people.