ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV took aim Wednesday at skeptics who “ridicule those who speak of global warming,” as he strongly embraced Pope Francis’ environmental legacy and made it his own in some of his strongest and most extensive comments to date.

Leo presided over the 10th anniversary celebration of Francis’ landmark ecological encyclical, Laudato Si (Praised Be) at a global gathering south of Rome. The encyclical cast care for the planet as an urgent and existential moral concern and launched a global grassroots movement to advocate for caring for God’s creation and the peoples most harmed by its exploitation.

Leo told the estimated 1,000 representatives from environmental and indigenous groups that they needed to pressure national governments to develop tougher standards to mitigate th

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