Every year in the spring, my university—Georgian Court University—hosts a week-long series of events related to one of the Critical Concerns of the Sisters of Mercy, the religious order that founded the university. The five Critical Concerns are earth, immigration, nonviolence, racism, and women. The theme of our Critical Concerns Week for 2025 was Earth and Integral Ecology. As part of that program, my colleagues and I organized a panel that included two biologists, two theologians (one being me), and a Sister of Mercy on our reading of Pope Francis’s texts, Laudato Si’ and Laudato Deum. This post is based on my contribution to that panel.
After Critical Concerns Week, I planned for this post to be released on Earth Day 2025, not expecting that we would receive the news of Pope Francis’s death right before Earth Day. I sincerely hope that the next pope elected will continue to pay attention to the issue of environmental destruction and climate change, which are pressing issues for all of us today.
Eternal rest grant unto Pope Francis, O Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
When I read Laudato Si’ and Laudato Deum, I read Pope Francis’s texts as a theologian, that is, I read them theologically for his understanding of God and the human condition, especially in how we relate to each other and to God. In doing so what strikes me the most about these texts together is his discussion of the human person and how we relate to the environment and each other. One of the seven key principles of Catholic social teaching identified by the USCCB is the “call to community,” and this principle is founded in the idea that humans are—by nature—social beings. In the Catholic tradition, humans are made in the image of God as the first chapter of Genesis tells us: “God created [humankind] in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). But what does it mean to be created in the image of God when, as the Christian tradition conceives it, God is a Trinity—three persons in the one God? In that sense, God in the Godself is already a relationship and we are created with this image—this natural desire for human society and for relationship—within us. Pope Francis highlights the importance this communal nature, explaining that the Genesis account of men and women being created in the image of God “shows us the immense dignity of each person, ‘who is not just something, but someone. He [or she] is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself [or herself] and entering into community with other persons’” (LS §65). It is our dignity as human persons and our creation as social beings that is the root of all our actions in the world. This idea is echoed in Laudato Deum, which draws not only on what he wrote in Laudato Si’, but also on his other significant encyclical—Fratelli Tutti—which is on the idea of fraternity and social relationships.
How does this idea of the human person as a social being relate to the environment? This is indicated in the very subtitle of Laudato Si’—On Care for Our Common Home. In Laudato Deum, Pope Francis also emphasizes this idea, noting that while the Judeo-Christian tradition has seen our creation in the image of God as making us special as compared to the rest of creation, today we also realize that human life is “incomprehensible and unsustainable” without other parts of creation (LD §67). Pope Francis specifies in Laudato Si’ that “Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society” (LS §91). We cannot see the environment as separate from other social problems we face. The environmental crisis also touches on issues of the economy and global development. In relation to these, the tradition of Catholic social teaching sees the environment as part of the common good, something that is necessary for all of us to share. Pope Francis also states this identification very clearly in Laudato Si’: “The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all” (LS §23). As we (as political communities) act toward the environment, we need to keep in mind this idea of the environment as a common good. What can we do to ensure that the resources of the environment can be shared among all people—both those alive today and in the generations that will follow?
In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis also emphasizes the way in which our care for creation aligns with another of the key principles of Catholic social teaching, namely, the preferential option for the poor. This principle is rooted in Jesus’ teachings, especially in his story of the Last Judgment (Matt. 25:31–46). This is where Jesus comes and separates the sheep from the goats and the sheep are identified as the righteous, those destined for salvation because, as Jesus says, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me” (Matt. 25:35–36). What all these actions have in common is that the righteous were the ones who cared for the neediest among them. This parable gives us some important lessons: first, it shows that Jesus himself is present in the poor and needy. When the righteous question how they did these things for Jesus, he replies, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers [and sisters] of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40). Second, it shows that our judgment and our ultimate salvation is dependent on how we treat the poor and needy. The righteous are those who cared for the poor and needy, while the “goats” in this parable are the ones who failed to do so and the parable closes with the warning that “these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matt. 25:46). Based on this parable and other biblical examples, the church has consistently included in its tradition of Catholic social teaching the message that we need to prioritize the needs of the poor in all our decisions—both those we make as individuals and those we make as a community. It is important to note that although we read this passage and often think of actions of charity that we can do as individuals, the parable itself is often referred to as the “judgment of the nations.” It begins, “when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matt. 25:31–32). It is, therefore, not just what we do as individuals that matters in this case, but what we do as a community, as a nation.
So, how does this idea of the preferential option for the poor relate to the environment? First, at the very opening of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis identifies the environment as one of the poor for whom we should have a preferential option. He places the earth “among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor” (LS §2). In this identification, Pope Francis is making an interesting move, theologically. If, as Jesus’ parable states, our salvation is tied up with how we treat the poor and needy, and the earth is one of the poor, then our salvation is also tied up with how we treat the earth. But the environmental crisis also has the most effect on the poor. The poor are the first to be affected by changes in the environment and they are the ones who feel the effects the most. Pope Francis provides the following as an example of this: “…changes in climate, to which animals and plants cannot adapt, lead them to migrate; this in turn affects the livelihood of the poor, who are then forced to leave their homes, with great uncertainty for their future and that of their children. There has been a tragic rise in the number of migrants seeking to flee from the growing poverty caused by environmental degradation. They are not recognized by international conventions as refugees; they bear the loss of the lives they have left behind, without enjoying any legal protection whatsoever” (LS §25). This shows the connection again between the problem of the environment, its effect on individuals—in this case on the poor—and the need for a communal response. It will be—and already is—the responsibility of the global community to deal with the problem of environmental refugees. It is as a community therefore, in our preferential option for the poor, that Pope Francis calls us to take better care of the earth.
This aspect illustrates the way in which it is proper to think about environmental concerns as a pro-life issue. In the American context especially, we tend to associate the pro-life movement only with its anti-abortion stance. But pro-life should encompass much more than just opposition to abortion. The effects of the environmental crisis will undoubtedly have an effect on human life, and this is important in the way that Pope Francis frames Laudato Si’. It is not just about caring for the environment in itself, but it’s caring for the environment because it is our common home. In damaging the environment, we are only hurting ourselves.
But how can we do this? One of the things that Pope Francis recognizes in Laudato Si’ is the magnitude of the problem of the environmental crisis. He emphasizes the way in which this calls for a global response. But that does not mean that we as individuals should despair or think that we cannot do anything. One of the things I like the most about this text is that he talks about how there is a “nobility” in doing little daily actions to care for the environment. And these individual changes—an individual conversion to caring for the environment—are necessary if a nation’s individual laws or any global efforts are to have an effect. He clarifies this point in Laudato Deum, namely, he notes that effective care for the environment will require us to change our cultural views to see the environment as something important—that is, it calls for both individual and communal conversion. The individual and communal conversions are ultimately linked; Pope Francis explains that “there are no lasting changes without cultural changes… and there are no cultural changes without personal changes” (LD §70). In Laudato Si’, he already gave us examples of personal changes we can make. To quote the encyclical at length here, Pope Francis writes:
A person who could afford to spend and consume more but regularly uses less heating and wears warmer clothes, shows the kind of convictions and attitudes which help to protect the environment. There is a nobility in the duty to care for creation through little daily actions, and it is wonderful how education can bring about real changes in lifestyle. Education in environmental responsibility can encourage ways of acting which directly and significantly affect the world around us, such as avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, or any number of other practices. All of these reflect a generous and worthy creativity which brings out the best in human beings. Reusing something instead of immediately discarding it, when done for the right reasons, can be an act of love which expresses our own dignity. (LS §211)
These are just some examples of little daily actions we can do to help better care for the environment. I challenge all of WIT’s readers to think about what things you can do. What sort of “little daily actions” can you take at home or at school right now to show care for the environment? When I first started teaching at GCU, one of my students commented the following about caring for the environment: “We take a straw at the restaurant because we believe one straw won’t make a difference. We use the plastic grocery bags at the store because we believe that one plastic bag won’t make a difference. If there are one million people saying these things, it would make a difference.” This is a significant observation and one that underlies everything that Pope Francis says in writings on the environment. As humans, we are social beings, and we live together in community. Thus, the individual choices that we make every day have a cumulative effect on the environment. We may not think that the way we act as individuals has much effect, but it is the cumulative effect of individual choices not to care for the environment that has gotten us to where we are today. So, I ask again: What can you do? What little daily actions can you take in your life to contribute to the overall care for the environment? In Laudato Deum, Pope Francis explains that “what is being asked of us is nothing other than a certain responsibility for the legacy we will leave behind, once we pass from this world” (LD §18). Consider: What legacy do you want to leave behind?
Featured image comes from a picture I took as I left for Easter Mass of the tree—just starting to bloom—in our front yard.
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