When Pope Francis wrote his 2015 encyclical letter, Laudato Si' (On care for our common home), addressed to 'every person living on this planet', his passionate plea for us to hear 'the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor' brought home the environmental and climate crises in a way that countless data-driven studies had not.
Secular environmental groups recognised the moral force of the Pope's call for change, and people from all faith traditions, not just Catholic, and none responded by taking action to tackle the environmental and climate crises, both within their own lives and in their communities.
John Kerry, the US climate envoy and former secretary of state, said the 2015 encyclical had a profound impact on the climate conference that year which set goals to limit global heating.
New faith-based environmental campaigns were launched in response to Laudato Si'. They included the Global Catholic Climate Movement (now called the Laudato Si' Movement), the world's biggest grassroots, faith-based environmental network, made up of more than 800 organisations around the world.
In 2021, the Catholic Church set up the Laudato Si' Action Platform to help millions of people to create a Laudato Si' action plan, and FaithInvest created dedicated Living Laudato Si' pages on our website to encourage people inspired by Laudato Si' to use their assets and investments for people and planet.
In the years since then, Laudato Si' is still the most important faith-based document on the environment published to date. It has inspired a Muslim initiative, called Al-Mizan: a Covenant for the Earth, which will present an Islamic outlook on the environment and is due to be launched in coming months, and there is also talk of a Protestant version.
Second Laudato Si'
Much has changed since the publication of the 2015 encyclical but as the scientists keep reminding us with increasing urgency, much more still needs to be done.
Now Pope Francis has announced that he will be publishing the second part of his Laudato Si' encyclical on October 4, the feast of St Francis of Assisi, patron saint of the environment.
The title, Laudato Si', is taken from the opening lines of St Francis's canticle, Laudator Si’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”). October 4 is also the culmination of the Season of Creation, which is widely celebrated across the Christian world and runs from September 1 to October 4.
Speaking at his weekly general audience, the Pope said: 'On that date, I plan on publishing an exhortation, a second Laudato Si'.
'It is necessary 'to stand with the victims of environmental and climate injustice, striving to end the senseless war on our common home which is a terrible world war. I urge all of you to work and pray for it to abound with life once again.'