Pope Francis in a video message invites Catholic communities around the world to celebrate Laudato Si’ Week from May 16-24, 2020.
In view of the fifth anniversary of the publication of the Encyclical Laudato si’, Pope Francis recorded a video message to address Catholic communities around the world.
“What kind of world do we want to leave to those who will come after us, to children who are growing up?” Pope Francis asks in the video message.
“Motivated by this question”, he said, “I would like to invite you to participate in Laudato Si’ Week from May 16-24, 2020. It is a global campaign on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the encyclical letter Laudato si’: On the care of our common home.”
The pope also renewed his urgent call to respond to the ecological crisis: “The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor cannot continue,” he said.
“Let’s take care of creation, a gift of our good Creator God. Let’s celebrate Laudato Si’ Week together.”
Laudato Si’ Week is sponsored by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and is meant to encourage Catholic communities to take bolder actions for creation during the week-long initiative.
For everyone interested in joining Pope Francis and taking the next step in the Laudato si’ journey, suggestions are available on the Laudato si’ Week website.
As part of the week, communities are invited to click on the useful toolkit to plan and implement their actions and to use the template promotional materials to share the word about activities with their members.
The fifth anniversary of Laudato si’ coincides with important events in the race to find solutions to the environmental crisis.
This year is the deadline for countries to announce their plans to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement.
The year 2020 will also see the UN’s conference on biodiversity, in which humanity will have the opportunity to set meaningful targets to protect the places and species that sustain all life.