Laudato Si' at Five

This moment offers "an opportunity and a grace" for restoration, beginning with religion playing a vital role in nurturing greater respect for creation and one another, cardinal tells conference on Laudato Si'.

Commentary: The root of our need for change is our refusal to see and hear God's presence in His creation. Yet hope abounds in spheres of ecological farming and renewable energy, "living" homes and cities.

Commentary: This time of shared crisis affords us a serendipitous opportunity to grow beyond ourselves by considering how our actions can affect others and creation itself

Commentary: The pope calls us to a stewardship that recognizes the needs of all living creatures and our collective capacity to care for creation. How does this challenge speak to me as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Xavier University?

Commentary: Pope Francis packed a great deal of clear advice into his climate encyclical, challenging as it may be to put that advice into action. But there are also questions to ponder as we dig more deeply.

Commentary: Didn't get to attend last June's conference at Creighton University about Laudato Si' and the U.S. Catholic Church? A special edition of The Journal of Moral Theology has essays from presenters. Among the themes that emerge: Work is being done in the church and society.

Commentary: With Pope Francis' environmental encyclical, at last a spiritual leader whose voice was heard around the world understood what we, the indigenous peoples, had been trying to explain without being understood.

Con la encíclica ambiental del Papa Francisco, por fin un líder espiritual respetado y escuchado en todo el mundo, comprendía lo que nosotros, los pueblos indígenas, habíamos estado tratando de explicar sin ser entendidos.

Commentary: The call is as urgent as it is clear. Even before the pandemic, we understood that we were entering a make-or-break decade for humanity to act to avoid catastrophic climate change and global suffering.

Catholics across the world have embraced and acted on environmental encyclical Laudato Si'. But the consensus among Catholic ecological leaders is those responses have been not nearly as widespread as Francis sought.

Plus: An interactive tool to make your own decisions about reducing global warming

Commentary: The fifth anniversary of Pope Francis' environmental encyclical arrives at a challenging time, especially in Africa. But much has been achieved in bringing Laudato Si' to life here.

We say: Four years ago, on the first anniversary of the encyclical, an NCR editorial heralded "the emergence of a lay-led, community-based, action-oriented movement for the environment." Has that happened?

In a May 21 statement to NCR, Gian Franco Mammì emphasized the Vatican bank's "maximum attention" to Pope Francis' environmental encyclical, Laudato Si', and "respect for the principles set forth" in it.

One bishop says it may take 40 years for the Catholic Church to fully grasp the wisdom of Pope Francis' environmental encyclical. Another says that, given the urgency of climate change, we don't have that kind of time.

Commentary: It is my hope that faith and religious organizations will use this time to remind leaders in the public and private sectors of their obligation to put people — not polluters or profits — at the forefront of every decision they make.

It's been notable that Pope Francis' words in Laudato Si' have not been matched with as much action as one might hope. However, the church and its affiliates have a big lever that they can pull — the financial one.

At the beginning of Laudato Si' Week, 42 faith institutions committed to divest their finances from fossil fuels, and called for post-pandemic economic recovery to shift the world toward a low-carbon future.

With its 'Laudato Si' Action Platform,' the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development is proposing that Catholic communities across the world work toward "total sustainability" in the coming decade.

Max Hohenberg, former communications official, told NCR that while he doesn't know of a specify policy against fossil fuels, the bank's traditional investment practices mean that it is unlikely to have money in that industry.

Festivities to mark the five-year anniversary of Pope Francis' landmark encyclical on the environment begin this weekend. The theme is "everything is connected," and more than 100 Catholic organizations worldwide have signed on as partners.