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Laudato Si’ is Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter On Care for Our Common Home written in 2015. He addressed “every person living on this planet” as we are all affected by a growing ecological and social crisis. Laudato Si’ is medieval Italian for "Praise be to you”, a quote from the Canticle of the Creatures by St. Francis of Assisi whom Pope Francis calls a model for all of us today.
Read the full text of Laudato Si' here:
Image: Pope Francis in 2014
Photo Credit: Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service (Photographer name), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Laudate Deum
On October 4, 2023, Pope Francis published an apostolic exhortation called Laudate Deum (Praise God in Latin) and addressed it “To all People of Good Will on the Climate Crisis”. It provides a complement and update to his encyclical Laudato Si’.
Read Laudate Deum online here:
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20231004-laudate-deum.html
Catholic Climate Covenant lists helpful resources for deeper understanding of Laudate Deum including videos, articles and prayers.
On care for our common home--A dialogue guide for Laudato Si’
This colourful guide to Laudato Si’, brings to life in photos, cartoons and stories the ground-breaking and challenging encyclical from Pope Francis. Nine sessions with Canadian context. Produced by the Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice. Free download or purchase available at:
https://jesuitforum.ca/dialogue_guides/on-care-for-our-common-home/
Living Out Laudato Si’: A Commentary and Practical Resource for Canadian Catholics
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ resource with Canadian context, reflection and action sections available at:
https://www.cccb.ca/wp-content/uploads/images/stories/pdf/Living_Out_Laudato_Si_En.pdf
Popes' messages for September 1st World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
In his 2016 message Show Mercy to our Common Home, Pope Francis added care for our common home to the works of mercy:
“…may the works of mercy also include care for our common home. As a spiritual work of mercy, care for our common home calls for a “grateful contemplation of God’s world” (Laudato Si’, 214) which “allows us to discover in each thing a teaching which God wishes to hand on to us” (ibid., 85). As a corporal work of mercy, care for our common home requires “simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness” and “makes itself felt in every action that seeks to build a better world” (ibid., 230-31).”
Other themes for the Popes’ annual messages for September 1st :
2015: Establishment of the World Day of Prayer
2017: Joint Message with Patriarch Bartholomew
2018: Theme of access to and care for water
2019: Promotes the Season of Creation and action on the climate emergency
2020: Theme “Jubilee for the Earth”
2021: A Joint Message for the Protection of Creation
2022: Theme “Listen to the voice of creation”
2023: Theme “Let Justice and Peace Flow”
2024: Theme “Hope and Act with Creation”
2025: Theme “Seeds of Peace and Hope”
Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region 6 - 27 October, 2019 Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology
http://secretariat.synod.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en.html
Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Querida Amazonía"
Catholic Bishops Documents
A Message from the Catholic Episcopal Conferences and Councils of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean on the Occasion of COP30 A Call for Climate Justice and the Common Home: Ecological Conversion, Transformation and Resistance to False Solutions (June 2025)
https://secam.org/wp-content/uploads/ENG_The-Churches-Global-South-on-ocassion-of-COP30-1.pdf
Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences Pastoral Letter to the Local Churches in Asia on the Care of Creation: A Call to Ecological Conversion (March 2025)
https://fabc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Pastoral-Letter-15-03-25.pdf
2018 Joint Statement on Climate Justice by Bishops’ Conferences
https://cidse.org/blog/2018/10/26/church-worldwide-calls-for-ambitious-and-urgent-climate-action/
US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Environmental Justice Program:
http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/environment/index.cfm
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Documents:
Forgive Us Our Debts Pastoral Letter on Debt Forgiveness in the Jubilee Year 2025. Connects economic and environmental challenges; highlights ecological debt.
https://www.cccb.ca/media-release/pastoral-letter-on-debt-forgiveness-in-the-jubilee-year-2025/
A Church Seeking Justice: The Challenge of Pope Francis to the Church in Canada (2015) Resource exploring Catholic Social Teaching and Pope Francis’ call to act for justice, connecting with Canadian issues including climate change.
Appeals on climate change prepare way for Paris World Conference
https://www.cccb.ca/media-release/appeals-on-climate-change-prepare-way-for-paris-world-conference/
Building a New Culture: Central Themes in Recent Church Teaching on the Environment (2013) Outlines church teaching on eight environmental themes, serving as a guide for discussion, reflection and decision-making.
https://www.cccb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Church_Teaching_on_the_Environment.pdf
Our Relationship with the Environment: The Need for Conversion (March 2008)
https://www.cccb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/enviro_eng.pdf
The Christian Ecological Imperative (Oct. 2003)
https://www.cccb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/pastoralenvironment.pdf
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