Pope Francis revealed that he is currently writing a second part of his environmental encyclical Laudato Si’ to address present issues.
The Holy Father announced this in his speech to lawyers from the Council of Europe member states who signed the Vienna Declaration on the Support of the Rule of Law in 2022.
The pope expressed his appreciation for their commitment to protecting the environment by adopting a legal framework, saying that he joins them in their mission to take care of our common home.
"We must never forget that the younger generations are entitled to receive from us a beautiful and livable world and that this invests us with grave duties towards the creation we have received from God’s generous hands," he said.
In a later statement, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, said that the forthcoming version of the 2015 encyclical will place more emphasis on the most recent extreme weather events and catastrophes happening across five continents in the world.
No information about the date of its release was mentioned.
Laudato Si’, which means "Praise be to You," was taken from St. Francis of Assis’s prayer "Canticle of the Sun," wherein the saint refers to God’s creation as his family, such as Brother Sun and Sister Moon.
The encyclical centers on human ecology, a phrase first used by his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, which revolves around "the relationship between human life and the moral law, which is inscribed in our nature and is necessary for the creation of a more dignified environment."
Shortly after its publication, Pope Francis clarified that this particular Church document must not be seen as a "green" encyclical but a "social" one.
"We cannot say that mankind is here and Creation, the environment, is there. Ecology is total, it’s human," the pontiff said.
"This is what I sought to express in the Encyclical Laudato Si’: man cannot be separated from the rest; there is a reciprocally influential relationship, both the environment on the person and the person in a way which affects the environment; and the effect bounces back to the man when the environment is mistreated," he added. - Luke Godoy
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
Latest News
