Rome (Italy) From 16 to 24 May 2020, on the 5th anniversary of the publication of the Encyclical Letter Laudato Sì on the care of the common home (May 24, 2015), Laudato Sì week, organized by Pope Francis is held. It invites you to participate and reflect: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to the children who are growing up? (…) I renew my urgent appeal to respond to the ecological crisis, the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor can no longer wait. Let’s take care of creation, gift of our good creator God”.
The theme chosen for Laudato Sì Week, organized by the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development with the support of a group of Catholic partners, has as its theme “Everything is connected” (LS 117, 138) and plans a series of online activities, events, and seminars addressed to building a more just and sustainable world for the Earth and for Humanity (laudatosiweek.org).
Laudato sì was received as a document of deep and eternal beauty and has aroused the peoples of the world to reflect more attentively on the Creator and on His Creation. Its vision of an integral ecology that sees connections between the way we treat God, nature, and others offers simple but intimate truths regarding the conversion that is needed to conquer ecological evil.
Laudato Sì Week is therefore, an invitation for all Catholic and Salesian realities in the context of the present health emergency of Covid-19 connected to the environmental emergency, to continue to study the themes of the Encyclical, to reflect, think, and act together to promote the commitment to an ecological conversion through education.
The Mother General of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Sr. Yvonne Reungoat, in
Circular 961 writes: “The climate changes that are before our eyes require concerted international action. However, we know that every change requires not only agreements, such as that of Paris on the climate (12 December 2015), but political will and, above all, a new culture that can be conveyed by a new education. Pope Francis dedicates to this theme the last chapter of the Encyclical entitled “ Ecological education and spirituality“, two closely connected ways to overcome the current crisis facing our common home. It is on this path that we feel committed to accompanying young people, promoting their protagonism so that they become custodians responsible for creation, aware that it is a lifelong path of conversion. It is an educational challenge that together, especially with young people, we are called to face with hope. ‘Young people have a new ecological sensitivity and a generous spirit – underlines the Pope – and some of them fight admirably for the defense of the environment, but have grown up in a context of very high consumption and well-being that makes it difficult to mature other habits. This is why we are facing an educational challenge’ (LS, n. 209).”
The event of Laudato Sì Week concludes on 24 May 2020 with a world day of prayer. At noon (Italian time), a Prayer will be recited in communion with the whole world.
“The Church never tires of offering…her work to the world, in the awareness that integral development is the road for the good that the human family is called to follow.” (Pope Francis)
