For history’s first pope named for Francis of Assisi, the saint’s Oct. 4 feast is bound to be a big deal, and this year is no exception, as several major Vatican events are already on the calendar.
“Laudato Si’”
Community Garden Inspired by ‘Laudato Si” Becomes a Lifeline
Five years ago the Olancho Aid Foundation (OAF) planted a community garden in response to Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’. Today, what was intended as a gesture to amplify the pontiff’s message has become a lifeline to a region crippled by food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vatican Launches Year-Long Celebration of Laudato Si’
This week Pope Francis inaugurated “Laudato Si’ Week” at the Vatican commemorating the five-year anniversary of the publication of his eco-encyclical with the same title, opening a wider year-long commemoration of the document aimed at spurring global citizens to adopt more sustainable practices.
On Laudato Si Anniversary, Catholics And Protestants Alike Focus On Common Good
Catholics and Protestants marked the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’s environmental encyclical, Laudato si’, with a message that although coronavirus is not directly linked to climate change, for people of faith, the key to overcoming both challenges lies in prioritizing the common good.
Georgetown Cites Global Environmental Challenges’ as It Divests From Fossil Fuels
Over the next 10 years, Georgetown University will divest from fossil fuels – a move heralded by Catholic environmental activists as putting Pope Francis’s ecological vision into action.
Vatican Calls Greta Thunberg ‘Great Witness’ of Church’s Environmental Teaching
On Dec. 11 top Vatican officials hailed Swedish teen Greta Thunberg, recently named TIME Magazine’s “Person of the Year” for her environmental advocacy, as a “great witness” of Church teaching on care for creation and the human person.
Pope Vents Frustration Over Lack of Political Will to Implement ‘Laudato Si’
A little more than four years after Pope Francis published one of his most provocative documents, not to mention perhaps his most political, in the form of his eco-encyclical Laudato Si’, the pontiff appears increasingly disappointed in the way the environmental manifesto been received.
Panel Ponders Pope, Liberalism, Nationalism and Not Burying the Gospel’s Lede
As impeachment hearings divided the nation Wednesday, several blocks away a blockbuster line-up of Catholic thinkers sought to harness the Church’s social teachings to make sense of increasing political and cultural volatility while, at the same time, wrestling with public witness in a fractured church.
U.S. Bishop Says Ecology, Synodality at Heart of Amazon Discussions, Not Married Priests
While the Amazon region has been the focus of this month’s Vatican meeting of bishops, one of the Americans taking part says he hopes the gathering’s reverberations will be felt in the United States.
Amazon Prelate Floats Alternative to Married Clergy: Send Some Roman Priests Home
One Venezuelan prelate taking part in the current Synod of Bishops on the Amazon says people back home have a creative alternative for coping with chronic priest shortages, beyond the much-discussed idea of married clergy to serve isolated rural communities.
