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.
“Laudato Si’”
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.
U.N. Honors Catholic Activist Using Data to Fight Climate Change
Lesser known – but also enjoying Vatican backing and U.N. support – is the work of 29- year-old, Molly Burhans, who while initially discerning to be a nun, discovered that the Catholic Church is one of the world’s largest landowners and is now seeking to steward such property – and the data that goes with it – for the common good.
Activists Say the Church Needs to ‘Scale Up’ in Face of Climate Emergency
Thousands of Catholics joined in climate strikes on Friday, following the lead of 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist who ignited the global movement, but also that of 82-year-old Pope Francis who has made environmental concerns a centerpiece of his papacy.
Group Hopes St. Kateri Tekakwitha Will Show U.S. Importance of Amazon Synod
Ahead of October’s upcoming Rome summit on the Amazon region, one stateside organization is hoping the legacy of a lesser-known saint – Kateri Tekakwitha – may help Catholics in the United States realize the significance of indigenous people for the Church.
California’s Bishops Call for Ecological Conversion on ‘Laudato Si’ Milestone
Timed to mark the 4th anniversary of Laudato si’ -Pope Francis’s landmark document on the environment – the Catholic bishops of California have released a major pastoral statement calling for statewide ecological conversion.
Bishop DiMarzio Leads Catholics, Buddhists to Meet with Pope on Green Affordable Housing
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio led a group of Catholic and Buddhist leaders from Brooklyn, Chicago, Ill., and Los Angeles, Calif., at a meeting with Pope Francis Sept. 12. The delegation presented the Holy Father with sustainable projects they are working on that will provide affordable housing to serve vulnerable populations, like the elderly and formerly homeless.