Laudato Si
“LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” — “Praise be to you, my Lord.” With these words from his beautiful canticle, St. Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our lives and a 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 colored flowers and herbs.”
These words invite us to reflect on our responsibility to care for our common home. Explore the resources below to read the encyclical and discover thoughtful commentary.
Commentaries
- Compendium of Initial Thoughts on the Encyclical
In the Footsteps of Other Popes, Francis Seeks Worldly Change - Clues to the Encyclical II: A Long Tradition of Papal Teaching on Social, Economic and Political Matters
Other Papal Resources
Francis is not the first pope to speak out on the environment. Previous popes and bishops have called on Christians to reflect on the connection between our care for creation and how we relate to other people, especially the poor and vulnerable, and to the Creator. Here are a few of those recent statements:
- If You Want To Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation, Pope Benedict XVI (2010)
“It is not hard to see that environmental degradation is often due to the lack of far-sighted official policies or to the pursuit of myopic economic interests, which then, tragically, become a serious threat to creation.” - Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI (2009)
“The environment is God’s gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole.” - Centesimus Annus, Pope John Paul II (1991)
“Man thinks that he can make arbitrary use of the earth, subjecting it without restraint to his will, as though it did not have its own requisites and a prior God-given purpose, which man can indeed develop but must not betray.” - Peace With God The Creator, Peace With All Of Creation, World Day of Peace Message, Pope John Paul II (1990)
“The most profound and serious indication of the moral implications underlying the ecological problem is the lack of respect for life evident in many of the patterns of environmental pollution.”