JOIN US FOR AN ONLINE DISCUSSION OF THE FILM AND LAUDATE DEUM

with Penny Washbourn, Member of the Council for Ecological Discipleship 

The Letter tells the story of the Pope’s personal invitation to a selected group of environmental activists from all parts of the globe to meet with him personally in Rome to discuss his 2015 encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’.   Among all the encyclicals written by popes, this was the first to specifically address the relationship we have to our environment, the earth, and our responsibility for it. It encourages us to see how “everything is connected.” The way we treat the Earth, our common home, is a reflection of how we, treat each other. Caring for each other means caring for the home we share.

“A better future is in our hands”

Laudate Deum (Praise God) is Pope Francis’ latest Apostolic Exhortation on the Environment. Published on October 4, 2023 , the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, 8 years after his groundbreaking encyclical Laudato Si’ in 2015, this short papal exhortation focusses directly on Climate Change and the International UN meeting COP28 in Dubai in December 2023. In contrast to his encyclical which had gentler tone and more general recommendations for care for our Common Home, Laudate Deum draws on the science of climate change and stresses the need for structural change in a very pointed way. He calls out the failure of rich nations, especially the US and the international community to commit to the needed paradigm shift away from an extractive fossil fuel based economic model, to one that recognizes human values and the common good of protecting planet earth .

Pope Francis calls for a new local multilateralism from below where citizens and non-governmental voices, especially those of women, can play a larger role in decisions in the political sphere.

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