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Pope Francis is inviting all Catholics to a seven-year journey to become totally sustainable.
The “predatory attitude” toward the planet must end, he says.
The new initiative, the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, is “a seven-year journey that will see our communities committed in different ways to becoming totally sustainable, in the spirit of integral ecology,” Francis explains.
“We need a new ecological approach that can transform our way of dwelling in the world, our lifestyles, our relationship with the resources of the Earth and, in general, our way of looking at humanity and of living life.”
Francis offered the invitation on Tuesday during the launch of the Vatican programme for putting his encyclical on the environment – Laudato Si’ – into action.
The encyclical urges humanity to reduce wasteful lifestyles, stem global warming and protect the poor from the effects of climate change.
At a global, grassroots level this means committing “to create the future we want: a more inclusive, fraternal, peaceful and sustainable world,” he says.
Families, parishes and dioceses, schools and universities, businesses and farms, religious congregations, hospitals and other health care facilities of the church are asked to achieve specific goals within a seven-year timeframe.
The goals include:
- Adopting renewable energy;
- Achieving carbon neutrality;
- Defending all life;
- Solidarity with Indigenous peoples and vulnerable groups;
- Adopting simpler lifestyles;
- Fostering ecological education and spirituality;
- Advocating for sustainable development;
- Following ethical investment guidelines, including divestment from fossil fuels and other industries that harm the planet.
“We envisage the first year to be dedicated to the three fundamental tasks of community building, resource sharing and drawing up concrete action plans for each of the Laudato Si’ goals.”
This will be followed by five years of solid concrete action and a final year as a sabbatical year “to praise and thank God,” a Vatican commentator says.
The platform also includes goals for families, parishes and dioceses, schools and universities, businesses and farms, religious congregations, and hospitals and other health care facilities.
Improvements can only come about by everyone working together in a coordinated effort, he says.
“Only in this way will we be able to create the future we want: a more inclusive, fraternal, peaceful and sustainable world.”
Integral ecology requires every member of the wider church to contribute their skills and work together on common goals.
People can register between now and 4 October at www.laudatosiactionplatform.org to assess what they are doing now and to see how they can further contribute to the seven Laudato Si’ goals.
A full rollout is planned at the conclusion of the annual Season of Creation, on Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
The Vatican’s development office says the strategy is to create a snowball effect by enrolling increasingly larger numbers of groups each year.
This will “create the critical mass needed” for achieving real change in the world.
“There is hope,” the pope says.
“We can all collaborate, each one with his own culture and experience, each one with her own initiatives and capacities, so that our mother Earth may be restored to her original beauty and creation may once again shine according to God’s plan.”
Francis has been invited to attend the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow.
It is likely he will attend, the Vatican says.
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