As crops are being harvested, and most of our environment is preparing for a long winter sleep, Pope Francis has revealed the title of his new letter on the environment, Laudate Deum (Praise God). 

“Praise God” is a frequent refrain in several Psalms, including Psalm 148:

“Hallelujah! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights. Praise him, all you his angels; give praise, all you his hosts. Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all shining stars. Praise him, highest heavens, you waters above the heavens. Let them all praise the Lord’s name; for he commanded and they were created, assigned them their station forever, set an order that will never change.” (Psalm 148:1-6) 

The new document, released Oct. 4, is a follow-up to his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ (On Care for Our Common Home). The pope revealed the title on Sept. 21 at the Vatican meeting of rectors of Catholic and public universities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The new document, he said, is “a look at what has happened” since 2015 and a look at what still “needs to be done.”

The world is facing “a process of environmental degradation,” he said, but it is a problem that impacts much more than nature. It “leads down to the bottom of the ravine: Degradation of living conditions, degradation of the values that justify these living conditions, because they go together,” with some people believing they are entitled to exploit and hoard natural resources while ignoring the impact on the poor and indigenous people. 

In responding to questions, the pope said that the throwaway culture and the culture of abandonment are tied. 

“The discarded, the outcasts, are men and women, whole peoples who we leave on the street like garbage, are they not? We have to be aware that we use the wealth of nature only for small groups through socio-economic theories that do not integrate nature, the discarded.”

Pope Francis insisted on the urgency of returning to the proper use of nature: “Today humanity is tired of this misuse of nature, and must return to the path of good use of nature … dialogue with nature.” To this end, the pope urged universities to create networks of awareness by “organizing hope.” 

“Reclaiming and organizing hope … one cannot help but consider it in the context of integral ecology … the youth of today have the right to a balanced cosmos and they have the right to hope and we have to help them to organize this hope, to make very serious decisions from this moment.”

The pope mentioned that schools and universities should teach in three human languages – head, heart and hands – and not just teach things. Students should “learn to think what they feel and what they do, to feel what they do and what they think, and to do what they feel and what they think.” He challenged educators to be “creative in the face of reality … not just dispensers of information.”

Respect for God’s creation and respect for life are integrally connected. And the converse is true as well. If we love God, we must love what God made, and that’s the human person and the rest of creation.

“A sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings. It is clearly inconsistent to combat trafficking in endangered species while remaining completely indifferent to human trafficking, unconcerned about the poor, or undertaking to destroy another human being deemed unwanted.” (Laudato Si’)

What are you doing today to help creation awaken even better in the spring? You can find a plethora of ideas at columbuscatholic.org/care-for-creation/laudato-si.