Laudate Deum: Apostolic Exhortation to All People of Good Will on the Climate Crisis

In his historic encyclical of 2015, Laudato Si, Pope Francis firmly established ecological concerns as central to the agenda of Catholic Social Teaching. Along with a spiritual framework on care for creation, he outlined issues of climate change, biodiversity, the peril facing our oceans, access to fresh water, and sustainable food, and offered a comprehensive guide to integral ecology. Eight years later comes a shorter but even more urgent call in Laudate Deum. Disappointed that not enough has been done in the intervening years, he addresses the irreversible effects of increasing global temperatures, the decrease in ice sheets, and other signs of the times. He critiques the “technocratic paradigm,” the ongoing addiction to a fossil-fuel economy, and the “weaknesses of international politics,” while leveling particular criticism at those who sow resistance and confusion. For all people of good will, it is a call to face the preeminent crisis of our times and to draw on all our spiritual wisdom, scientific knowledge, and political will to meet the challenge.