When Pope Leo was elected earlier this year many observers of the Roman Catholic church wondered whether he would support the ecological priorities of his predecessor, Francis. Pope Francis chose St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology and animals as his namesake. His Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home encyclical, now ten years old, was a brilliant, wide-ranging theological reflection on Creation and the state of our planetary home.
It does appear that Pope Leo wants to honour Francis' commitment and build upon it. On Wednesday, days before the conclusion of the Season of Creation and the Feast of St. Francis, he held a symposium at the Vatican called Raising Hope for Climate Justice addressing environmental themes. He invited a wide range of participants including Arnold Schwarzenegger, a long-time environmental advocate, and Katherine Hayhoe, the Canadian environmental scientist and Christian who lives in the United States and was an advisor to President Obama.
According to Vatican News:
In his address, the Pope expressed gratitude for the legacy of Pope Francis’ encyclical, noting how its message has inspired schools, dioceses, academic programmes, and international dialogue.
“Its impact,” he said, “has extended to summits, interreligious initiatives, economic and business circles, as well as theological and bioethical studies.” Above all, he noted that the phrase “care for our common home” has become a standard phrase, used in academic work and public discourse across peoples and continents.
While recalling the achievements of the past decade, Pope Leo emphasised that the challenges identified in Laudato Si’ are “even more relevant today than they were ten years ago.” These challenges, he said, are not only political and social, but also spiritual, calling for what Pope Francis described as a “conversion of heart.”
The Pope explained that the heart “is where the deepest searching takes place, where one’s ultimate identity is found, and where decisions are forged. It is only by returning to the heart that a true ecological conversion can take place.”
During the gathering Pope Leo blessed a chunk of Greenland ice as a symbolic gesture regarding climate change, somewhat unusual, to be honest. Of course, conservative Catholics and others jumped on this as "pagan" and "woke".
Ten years ago Pope Francis was looking ahead to a momentous global summit on the environment when he released Laudato Si and Leo is doing the same. There are two, COp30 and the United Nations 2026 Water Conference. So Pope Leo urged leaders to heed the cries of “the Earth and the poor, families, indigenous peoples, involuntary migrants and believers throughout the world.”
We can pray for the leadership of Pope Leo and Cardinal Michael Czerny, the Czech-born Canadian Jesuit, who heads the Vatican office responsible for migrants and the environment. The witness for environmental hope by the Roman Catholic church matters in the midst of so much gloomy news.
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