"Laudate Deum": Pope Releases Message on Climate Crisis

"We, Sisters of Mercy Parramatta Congregation, mindful that we are called by the world and the church at this particular time in history to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, we will continue to respond mercifully to both." (Chapter Statement)

It has been eight years since his ground-breaking encyclical, Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home and we are at crisis point. " With the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point,” the Pope writes in the introduction to Laudate Deum. He continues "it is indubitable that the impact of climate change will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons. We will feel its effects in the areas of healthcare, sources of employment, access to resources, housing, forced migrations, etc.This is a global social issue and one intimately related to the dignity of human life."

In six chapters of this new work, having outlined the negative impact of human activity on our common home, and the successes and failures of previous climate change conferences, Pope Francis looks ahead with expectation to COP28 in the UAE (30 November - 12 December). Political change on a national and international level as well as personal, family and community transformation are necessary to produce substantial change. We must stop thinking of ourselves as " autonomous, omnipotent and limitless".

People of faith of all religions are asked to join him on this "pilgrimage of reconciliation" with our common home "in order to make it more beautiful", because that commitment “has to do with our personal dignity and highest values”.

Read Laudate Deum

Watch the introductory video (2:58)

View the explanatory graphic