.jpeg)
Laudato Si’ is an encyclical of Pope Francis published in May 2015. It focuses on care for the natural environment and all people, as well as broader questions of the relationship between God, humans, and the Earth. The encyclical’s subtitle, “Care for Our Common Home,” reinforces these key themes.
​
"The words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us."
​
“Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs” (Laudato Si 1.).
Click Icon to Read Laudato Si
“Future generations will never forgive us if we miss the opportunity to protect our common home. We have inherited a garden; we must not leave a desert for our children.”
​
The Season of Creation has a special significance for the Catholic Church, particularly since Pope Francis established 1 September as an annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. The Season of Creation is marked throughout the Christian world from 1 September to 4 October (Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi) and celebrates the joy of creation as well as encouraging awareness-raising initiatives to protect the natural environment.
It is a special season where we celebrate God as Creator and acknowledge Creation as the divine continuing act that summons us as collaborators to love and care for the gift of all that is created. As followers of Christ from around the globe, we share a common call to care for Creation. We are co-creatures and part of all that God has made. Our well-being is interwoven with the well-being of the Earth. We rejoice in this opportunity to safeguard our common home and all beings who share it. This year, the theme for the season is “To hope and act with Creation”. Amid the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, many are beginning to despair and suffer from eco-anxiety. As people of faith we are called to lift the hope inspired by our faith, the hope of the resurrection. This is not a hope without action but one embodied in concrete actions of prayer and preaching, service and solidarity.
The following resources compiled by the Laudato Si’ Working Group of the Irish Bishop’s Conference will help individuals and parish communities to celebrate the Season of Creation 2024.
​​
Participate in the Season of Creation 2024!
Pope Francis' Message for the
World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
Pope Francis has entitled his Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on 1st September 2024, ‘Hope and Act with Creation’ [Message]. Pope Francis states clearly that we come to faith due to the Holy Spirit dwelling within each one of us and he reaffirms that God’s love for us is our great hope. He states that faith is a gift which enables us to enter the depths of suffering; that of humanity and of creation.
The Pope highlights the reality that we cannot but face suffering; that we groan with creation, with our brothers and sisters in Christ and with the Spirit. We groan in hope for harmony among all people and for a renewed appreciation of creation; that the turmoil we are enduring may be overcome according to Pope Francis.
Pope Francis acknowledges that we have been ‘masters’ over each other and creation for too long. He states that we are not relating to the Earth as a gift from our Creator, but rather as a resource to be used and so we must change our lifestyle. In his Message Pope Francis calls us to reflect upon the increase in the power of humanity and highlights that there is an urgent need to set ethical limits on the development of artificial intelligence. He urges us to depend on our constant companion, the Holy Spirit, to enable us to care for the earth rather than continuing to dominate it.
Finally, Pope Francis emphasises that care for the earth is an ethical and a theological issue since we, and all of creation, are of God, our Creator. In view of the current suffering of both humanity and of creation, he invites us to hope by groaning, crying and actively striving for new life. Pope Francis alludes to the groaning of childbirth, in which a mother experiences intense pain so that new life springs forth. He reaffirms that we are called to hope and act with creation during this upcoming Season of Creation 2024.
A great new film “on humanity’s power to stop the ecological crisis” facing the world was presented at the Vatican on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, 2022. The film “The Letter,” says Cardinal Michael Czerny, “is a clarion cry to people everywhere: we have to act together, we have to do it now.” “The Letter” premiere on the same day the Holy See entered the landmark 2015 climate accords known as the Paris Agreement.
Laudato Si Goals
Measuring Integral Ecology in the spirit of Laudato Si’
1. Response to the Cry of the Earth (greater use of clean renewable energy and reducing fossil fuels in order to achieve carbon neutrality, efforts to protect and promote biodiversity, guaranteeing access to clean water for all, etc.)
2. Response to the Cry of the Poor (defence of human life from conception to death and all forms of life on Earth, with special attention to vulnerable groups such as indigenous communities, migrants, children at risk through slavery, etc.)
3. Ecological Economics (sustainable production, Fair-trade, ethical consumption, ethical investments, divestment from fossil fuels and any economic activity harmful to the planet and the people, investment in renewable energy, etc.)
4. Adoption of Simple Lifestyles (sobriety in the use of resources and energy, avoid single-use plastic, adopt a more plant-based diet and reduce meat consumption, greater use of public transport and avoid polluting modes of transportation, etc.)
5. Ecological Education (re-think and re-design educational curricula and educational institution reform in the spirit of integral ecology to create ecological awareness and action, promoting the ecological vocation of young people, teachers and leaders of education etc.)
6. Ecological Spirituality (recover a religious vision of God’s creation, encourage greater contact with the natural world in a spirit of wonder, praise, joy and gratitude, promote creation-centred liturgical celebrations, develop ecological catechesis, prayer, retreats, formation, etc.)
7. Emphasis on Community involvement and participatory action to care for creation at the local, regional, national and international levels (promote advocacy and people’s campaigns, encourage rootedness in local territory and neighbourhood ecosystems, etc.)