On Wednesday, October 4, 2023, Pope Francis released his new apostolic exhortation “Laudate Deum” (“Praise God”) as a follow-up to his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’ (Praise Be) On Care for Our Common Home.” The exhortation’s publication coincided with the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron of ecology, whose famous canticle inspired the title of “Laudato Si’.” Here are some quotes by Pope Francis from “Laudate Deum”
“The world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point’’.
“irreversible” harm to people and the planet already underway and the world’s poor and most vulnerable are paying the highest price’’.
“The issue of climate change is “one intimately related to the dignity of human life.”
“it is no longer possible to doubt the human … origin of climate change”.
“Not every concrete catastrophe” is due to global climate change, humans bear responsibility for specific changes that have led to “extreme phenomena” – such as storms, heat waves and flooding – that are “increasingly frequent and intense,”
‘’The planet itself has become a mirror of a deeply flawed view of human life and activity.’’
“Eeverything is connected” and “no one is saved alone.”
“For when human beings claim to take God’s place they become their own worst enemies.”
“Our care for one another and our care for the earth are intimately bound together”
Pope Francis invites Catholics and those of other faiths to recall their “spiritual motivations” for addressing the climate crisis, asking “everyone to accompany this pilgrimage of reconciliation with the world that is our home and to help make it more beautiful, because that commitment has to do with our personal dignity and highest values.
“What is being asked of us is nothing other than a certain responsibility for the legacy we will leave behind, once we pass from this world,”
This is a further call to ecological conversion to us Catholics and to all to hear the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor – make a commitment today and take climate and environmental action.
By Bro Michael Terungwa David (KSM)
