Scientists are warning us that because of global warming, civilization is headed toward the worst catastrophe in human history. Unlike a war, a pandemic or a depression, this is not a disaster we can recover from in a few decades. This is a calamity that will take centuries, if not millennia, to recover from, if Read more
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,” Read more
Thursday, April 22, we joined the global celebration of Earth Day and appropriate for Catholics to reflect on Pope Francis’ famous environmental encyclical letter “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.” Citing Francis of Assisi – patron saint of ecology – Pope Francis writes “our common home is like a sister with whom we Read more
There are two prayers I love which both connect me to Mother Earth. The first is one my uncle said, as a grace before we ate as a family. I loved the rhythm of this prayer and although I do not recall the exact words, he would begin by giving thanks to God the Creator Read more
The pleasure we get from enjoying food and sex is “divine”, says Pope Francis. These pleasures have unjustly fallen victim to “overzealousness” on the part of the Church in the past which is “a wrong interpretation of the Christian message,” he says in a newly-published book of interviews with Carlo Petrini, an Italian culinary writer. Read more
A lack of respect for human life from conception to natural death and a lack of respect for the environment are both signs of a person claiming power over something that is not theirs to control, Pope Francis said. “They are the same indifference, the same selfishness, the same greed, the same pride, the same Read more
The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA) are giving the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) newspaper a gift of $1.5 million. The money is to be used to support and amplify “integral ecological education and journalism reflecting the spirit of Laudato Si’.” The Sisters’ gift marks the establishment of the Laudato Si’ Fund, which NCR is Read more
In the Gospel of Matthew, there is a scene where the Pharisees and Sadducees, in their desire to test Jesus, ask him to show them a sign. In reply to them, Jesus says that in the morning when the sky is red and threatening you say that today it will be stormy. “You know how Read more
The Vatican has praised a Philippine diocese for becoming the first in the entire Catholic Church to adopt renewable energy. Vatican officials have released a document offering a guide for Catholics on how to take care of the earth as God’s creation and man’s “common home,” citing the diocese’s response to Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Read more
The Vatican will launch a year-long celebration of Laudato si’ on Sunday, to mark Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment’s fifth anniversary. The “special Laudato si’ anniversary year” is an initiative of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. The Dicastery has organised events this week in the lead-up to the celebratory year, including several Read more