Laudate Deum: Pope Francis’ Plea for Our Planet and Our Future

In October of 2023, Pope Francis issued a plea to the world: his apostolic exhortation, Laudate Deum: On the Climate Crisis.  

Eight years earlier, Pope Francis called on the world to respond to “the cry of creation,” in his encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home. Laudate Deum is a follow up to Laudato Si’, with Pope Francis noting that “the situation is now even more pressing.” Pope Francis calls to task the political and economic leaders of the world, stating that efforts at addressing the climate crisis over the past eight years have been woefully inadequate. Due to this tragic lack of leadership, Pope Francis asserts that “the world in which we live is collapsing.” 

Laudate Deum is a vital message for all, brought home to us in Cohasset and Hull because of our closeness to the coast and the threats of rising sea levels and increasing extreme weather. The document is quick read, about 18 pages as a printed pdf. I see the whole document making four interrelated points. 

• Humanity’s relationship with the planet and one another is nearing a breaking point 

• Political and business leaders are failing us 

• There is a way of thinking that underlies human destruction of our planet and future 

• Faith and conscience call us to act now, before it is too late 

Although the document is addressed to all people of goodwill, Pope Francis concludes by reminding Catholics that caring for God’s creation is a fundamental act of Christian faith. God loves all of God’s creation, it is all seen as good, and humans are here to be caretakers and stewards of creation (Gen. 1 & 2). Pope Francis challenges us to examine how we are contributing to the climate crisis and to act now for personal, communal, and societal change. Pope Francis speaks directly to the people of the United States, pointing out that our patterns of consumption and waster contribute much more carbon emissions than other peoples of the world.  

His call to action is threefold: simplifying our lifestyles, advocating for systemic change, and undergoing an ecological conversion, a conversion that would restore our sense of belonging in God’s creation. Below are selected quotes from Laudate Deum. 

1. We are nearing a breaking point 

“The world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.” (#2) 

“If it (global temperatures) should rise above 2 degrees, the ice caps of Greenland and a large part of Antarctica will melt completely, with immense grave consequences for everyone.” (#5) 

“The other creatures of this world have stopped being our companions along the way and have become instead our victims.” (#15) 

“We are now unable to halt the enormous damage we have caused. We barely have time to prevent even more tragic damage.” (#16) 

2. Political and business leaders are failing us 

“The climate crisis is not exactly a matter that interests the great economic powers, whose concern is with the greatest profit possible at minimal cost and in the shortest amount of time.” (#13) 

Pope Francis points out that when there is an international will, such as in the protection of the ozone layer, powerful, effective action is possible. However in response to the climate crisis, “despite the many negotiations and agreements, global emissions continue to increase.” (#55) 

3. A way of thinking that underlies human destruction of our planet 

“The greater problem is the ideology underlying an obsession … before which nonhuman reality is a mere resource at its disposal.” (#22)  

“We need to rethink among other things the question of human power, its meaning and its limits. For our power has frenetically increased in a few decades. We have made impressive and awesome technological advances, and we have not realized that at the same time we have turned into highly dangerous beings, capable of threatening the lives of many beings and our own survival. Today it is worth repeating the ironic comment of Solovyov about an “age which was so advanced as to be actually the last one”. (#28) 

Pope Francis’ message is not only for the world’s most powerful. He is inviting us all into the joy of a simple lifestyle and to engage in pressuring our governments to abandon fossil fuels, saying, “every family ought to realize that the future of their children is at stake.” (#58) 

4. Faith and conscience call us to act now, before it’s too late 

“Everything is connected” and “No one is saved alone”. (#19) 

“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.” (#18) 

Pope Francis makes clear that the current human-caused mass extinction of species, causing 70 to 140 species a day to become extinct, is a deep concern as people of faith. He states that “it is not a matter of indifference to us that so many species are disappearing and that the climate crisis endangers the life of many other beings.” (#63) 

Pope Francis speaks of God’s Love made visible in creation, writing, “The world sings of an infinite Love: how can we fail to care for it?” (#65) 

He then calls for a shift in how we think of ourselves: “Let us stop thinking, then, of human beings as autonomous, omnipotent and limitless, and begin to think of ourselves differently, in a humbler but more fruitful way.” (#68) 

“Efforts by households to reduce pollution and waste, and to consume with prudence, are creating a new culture …  we are helping to bring about large processes of transformation rising from deep within society. ” (#71) 

What gets your attention in this blogpost summary of Laudate Deum? 

What is one act you can take as an act of love for God’s creation?