Embracing our role in the one community of life… (Invitation & Call 2022)
On the last day of the Season of Creation 2023 (October 4), Pope Francis published the apostolic exhortation : Laudate Deum. It comes eight years after his Encyclical, Laudato Si in 2015.
Pope Francis calls again on ‘all people of good will’ to care for the poor and for (the) Earth — our common home.’ He expresses his hope that societies around the world will respond to the urgent need for lifestyle change and will intensify grassroots activities to reduce the negative human impact on the natural environment. He emphasizes that the call, to prevent even more tragic damage to Earth, is an urgent one.
Pope Francis invites everyone: “to accompany this pilgrimage of reconciliation with the world that is our home and to help make it more beautiful because that commitment has to do with our personal dignity and highest values.” “Every little bit helps, and avoiding an increase of a tenth of a degree in the global temperature would already suffice to alleviate some suffering for many people.” – Laudate Deum 69, 70
Pope Francis also calls on politicians and the rich to work for the common good rather than for their own profit and particular interests. In the final paragraph of Laudate Deum (73) he states that “when human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies”.
To read and reflect on the full Message of Laudate Deum, click here:
CAFOD UK offers helpful Questions and Answers about Laudate Deum:
A summary of Laudate Deum can be accessed here:
An essay by Max Foley-Keene: Francis calls for a ‘drastic’ response
“If ‘the universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely… there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face. ‘
(If) the world sings of an infinite Love:
how can we fail to care for it?”
– Laudate Deum 65
Pope Francis urges us again – to respond to the cry of Earth and of those made poor.