Laudato Si’ (“On Care for Our Common Home”) is often referred to as Pope Francis’ “environmental” encyclical. While it is true that Laudato Si’ includes the themes of sustainability and ecological justice, that doesn’t mean that the encyclical is only about the environment. Pope Francis is actually encouraging us to remember that Church embraces what is called “integral ecology” – respect for the interrelatedness of all things in God. “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.” (Psalm 66)
The stereotype for a long time has been that the ecological movement is a bunch of atheist tree-huggers. What the Holy Father is trying to say is that how we care for the interconnectedness of species is actually a mainstream part of Catholic tradition. He uses religious terms to argue that part of what it means to be Catholic is to change how we view the Earth. He uses pro-life arguments in both their literal form and their broadest form to say that people are responsible not just for human species, but also all species. The point is: we should be concerned about the Earth precisely because we are Catholic.
There are thousands of practical things we could do today, but give this some thought: spend some time today giving praise to our Creator. In the Nicene Creed, we say, “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” Do we find it at all amazing that the first sentence of our Creed mentions the fact that all of creation comes from God? “Praise the Lord in all His works!”
