Laudato Si’ (135222)

Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home?is the new appealfrom Pope Francis addressed to “every person living on this planet” for an inclusive dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. Pope Francis calls the Church and the world to acknowledge the urgency of our environmental challenges and to join him in embarking on a new path. This encyclical is written with both hope and resolve, looking to our common future with candor and humility.

The title is taken from the first line of the encyclical, “Laudato si’, mi Signore,” or “Praise be to you, my Lord.” In 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. The encyclical is divided into six chapters which together provide a thorough analysis of human life and its three intertwined relationships: with God, with our neighbor, and with the earth:

1. What is happening to our common home?
2. The Gospel of Creation
3. The Human roots of the ecological crisis
4. Integral Ecology
5. Lines of Approach and Action
6. Ecological Education and Spirituality

While?Laudato Si’?is the first encyclical to focus on the environment and its destruction in such a comprehensive way, its foundation rests in a long history of?Church teaching on creation.