Laudato si'

The document is organised as follows: • Introduction: (sections 1-16) • Chapter 1: What is happening to our common home? (sections 17–61) • Chapter 2: The Gospel of Creation (sections 62–100). While this chapter deals with "the convictions of believers", the Pope notes his awareness that some people reject, or merely tolerate, this perspective. • Chapter 3: The human roots of the ecological crisis (sections 101–136) • Chapter 4: Integral ecology (sections 137–162) • Chapter 5: Lines of approach and action (sections 163–201) • Chapter 6: Ecological education and spirituality (sections 202–246) • The text is followed by two prayers (pages 178–180). The six substantive chapters each have their "own subject and specific approach", but build cumulatively on the preceding chapters. == Content ==

, Eastern Orthodox metropolitan of Pergamon, presents the encyclical Laudato si at the press conference in Rome. The title of the social encyclical is a Central Italian phrase Martin Palmer, an Anglican who was previously the Secretary General of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (an NGO created by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1995 to change the views of religions on environmentalism and global warming) claims that Francis' encyclical "really helped, but now unfortunately, people in the Vatican still fear they will be attacked or compromised over this." "We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental." Technology is not value-neutral and technological developments are directed by the profit motive, according to Pope Francis. This is a form of institutionalized greed, generally with little regard for environmental and social consequences. "The economy accepts every advance in technology with a view to profit, without concern for its potentially negative impact on human beings". An intensified pace of social evolution in modern times leads to a phenomenon which Francis calls "rapidification" (paragraph 18). The term translates the words "rapidación" (Spanish) and "rapidizzazione" (Italian), which appear together in the Italian text of the letter. Celia Hammond, of the University of Notre Dame Australia, considers the term, although new to her, "a perfect description of our 21st century world, particularly in developed countries like Australia". The encyclical also gives voice to the Pope's opposition to abortion, embryonic stem cell research and population control, saying that respect for creation and human dignity go hand in hand. "Since everything is interrelated", Francis says, "concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion." According to the Pope, we cannot "genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties." Laudato si opposes gender theory and supports "valuing one's own body in its femininity or masculinity". In acknowledging differences, the Pope states "we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment". Sources The encyclical has 172 footnoted citations, many to Francis's immediate predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The encyclical also "draws prominently from" Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Constantinople and an ally of the pope. It is highly unusual to quote an Orthodox bishop in a papal document. More than 10 per cent of all the footnotes, 21, cite documents from 16 bishops' conferences around the world, mostly from the global south. This is the first encyclical to cite bishops' conferences. This was an effort, experts believe, to build alliances on a controversial topic. The encyclical also cites Thomas Aquinas, the 9th-century Sufi mystic Ali al-Khawas, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Romano Guardini. == History ==

Early stages Speculation about an "environmental encyclical" to be issued by Pope Francis first began in November 2013. On 28 April 2015, in advance of the encyclical's release, the Vatican hosted a one-day conference on climate change, featuring Turkson, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (who delivered the keynote address), Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa and American economist Jeffrey Sachs. The title and subtitle of the encyclical were first reported on in a Twitter message by Spanish-language journalist Mercedes De La Torre on 30 May 2015. The Vatican confirmed that the title would be Laudato si on 10 June. While some initial reports said the encyclical would be called Laudato Sii, this was incorrect; the pope chose to use the original Umbrian form and spelling of the poem, with a single i. On 4 June, the Vatican press office announced that the encyclical – which was "already attracting global attention for its expected discourses on Catholic theology on ecology, current environmental destruction, and climate change" – would be released on 18 June. Leak Four days before the encyclical's release, the Italian magazine ''L'Espresso posted a leaked draft of the document online. The leaked document "almost exactly matched" the final document. The leak angered Vatican officials, who called it a "heinous act" and revoked the press credentials of the longtime L'Espresso Vatican correspondent Sandro Magister. The New York Times and the Italian newspaper La Stampa'' both noted suggestions that the leak came from conservatives inside the Vatican who wished to embarrass the pope and hinder the rollout of the encyclical. Release The encyclical letter was officially released at an event in the New Synod Hall of the Vatican City. Speaking at the press conference were Turkson, Schellnhuber, and John Zizioulas (the metropolitan of Pergamon, representing the Orthodox Church). On the day of the encyclical's official release, Pope Francis issued two messages about it on his official Twitter account, @Pontifex. It has been suggested that the encyclical's release was timed to influence three summits being held at the United Nations on financial aid, sustainable development and climate change later in 2015. == Reception ==

After the encyclical was released, the Vatican's website was briefly inaccessible as many people tried to read it. In close partnership with the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development, Laudato Si' Movement has convened various global initiatives to raise awareness and spark action, such as the annual Laudato Si' Week celebration, the Season of Creation ecumenical celebration, and the film "The Letter". The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, led by its president Joseph Edward Kurtz, the archbishop of Louisville, described the encyclical as "our marching orders for advocacy"Vaticanologist John L. Allen Jr., said in an analysis, "Laudato si seems destined to go down as a major turning point, the moment when environmentalism claimed pride of place on a par with the dignity of human life and economic justice as a cornerstone of Catholic social teaching. It also immediately makes the Catholic Church arguably the leading moral voice in the press to combat global warming and the consequences of climate change." RealClearReligion editor Nicholas Hahn has said that "Good Catholics can disagree on how to combat climate change and shouldn't worry about being sent to the confessional if they drive a SUV." In July 2015, Cardinal George Pell criticised Laudato si for associating the church with the need to address climate, stating: From other faiths Three days before the encyclical was released, the 14th Dalai Lama issued a Twitter message stating: "Since climate change and the global economy now affect us all, we have to develop a sense of the oneness of humanity." The New York Times reported that the encyclical put pressure on Catholics seeking the Republican Party nomination for president of the United States in 2016, including Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Rick Santorum, who "have questioned or denied the established science of human-caused climate change, and have harshly criticized policies designed to tax or regulate the burning of fossil fuels." In June 2019, in a meeting at the Vatican which climatologist Hans Joachim Schellnhuber described as one of the most significant of his 30-year career, Francis "convinced big oil CEOs to alter their message on climate change." These included CEOs of ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, and Chevron who pledged to avert what Francis called "a climate emergency" that risks "perpetrating a brutal act of injustice towards the poor and future generations." Francis "stressed the need for a radical energy transition to save our common home." They pledged to "advance the energy transition [...] while minimizing the costs to vulnerable communities." From other groups Bill McKibben reviewed the encyclical in The New York Review of Books, The LGBT-interest magazine The Advocate noted that the encyclical contains passages which reinforce the church's position against the transsexuality movement, calling for "the acceptance of our bodies as God's gift". In 2019, the journal Biological Conservation published research by Malcolm McCallum showing evidence of widespread, sustained growth in interest in the environment in many countries around the world. == Laudato Si' Movement ==

With the encyclical's publication in 2015, the Laudato Si' Movement was founded to bring together Catholics interested in promoting its message. In 2022 the Laudato Si' Movement consisted of 967 member organizations, 11539 Laudato Si' Animators, 204 Laudato Si' Circles and 58 National Chapters around the globe. On 4 October 2021, the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Development launched the Laudato Si Action Platform, in collaboration with the Laudato Si' Movement and many other Catholic institutions. == In film ==

The 2022 documentary film The Letter: A Message for our Earth, presented by YouTube Originals, tells the story of the Laudato Si' encyclical. The film was produced by Oscar-winning Off The Fence Productions and directed by Nicolas Brown, in partnership with the Laudato Si' Movement. Following its global premiere in Vatican City on 4 October 2022, the film amassed over 7 million views in its first two weeks, with the support of celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Arnold Schwarzenegger. == In music ==

On behalf of the Diocese of Limburg, Peter Reulein wrote the music for the oratorio ''Laudato si' – a Franciscan Magnificat to the libretto by Helmut Schlegel. This work is based on the Latin version of the Magnificat, corresponds to the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, and includes texts from the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium and from Laudato si''. The premiere of the oratorio took place in the Limburg Cathedral on 6 November 2016. Another major musical work inspired by Laudato si' is the Missa Laudato Si’ by Korean-American composer Dongryul Lee. Commissioned by the EcoVoice Project, the hour-long choral-orchestral work was premiered on 15 March 2025 at Loyola University Chicago by a combined ensemble including the New Earth Ensemble, with Kirsten Hedegaard conducting. It is structured in four movements: Kyrie Eleison–The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Gloria–Canticle of the Creatures, Agnus Dei–Refugee, and ''Ite, Missa Est–One Person's Truth''. The piece integrates Latin liturgical text with contemporary poetry, including a poem by Syrian refugee child Abdullah Kasem Al Yatim (UNHCR) and an original poem by Korean poet Ryu Shiva (translated by the composer). The composition employs microtonality, spectral techniques, and multilingual text settings to explore themes of environmental justice, spirituality, and activism in response to Pope Francis’s encyclical. A full video of the premiere is available on YouTube. == Laudato Si' and Pope Francis' other writings ==

The apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum, considered a text in continuity with Laudato Si, was published on 4 October 2023. Francis states that: The Pope develops his thinking on the "technocratic paradigm", and aims to clarify and bring to completion his ideas on integral ecology, while at the same time sounding an alarm, and a call for co-responsibility, in the face of the climate emergency. Journalists Jason Horowitz and Elisabetta Povoledo stated that "eight years after his landmark letter on humanity's obligation to protect the environment, Francis warns that there is still a lot to be done, and quickly." In particular, the Exhortation mentions the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, being held in Dubai at the end of November and beginning of December in 2023. He urged governments to make the conference a turning point in the urgent fight against the climate crisis. Although ''Laudato si' ''"had a transversal and very profound impact within and outside the Catholic Church", according to Paolo Conversi, the coordinator of the Laudato Si' Observatory, an interdisciplinary group at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Laudate Deum serves as proof that Francis feels his message has not been enough heard. "What is being asked of us is nothing other than a certain responsibility for the legacy we will leave behind", Francis states, "once we pass from this world." In his 2024 encyclical letter Dilexit nos, Francis observes that ==See also==