Laudato Si’

“Laudato Si’ mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”

Dear Children of St John Bosco,

The earth is God’s gift to us, full of beauty and wonder. And it belongs to everyone. But what we see today is that our common home has never been so hurt and mistreated. We have developed at a greater speed than we could have ever imagined, and have treated the earth like it has an unlimited supply of resources. We have taken more than our fair share from most people on the planet, as well as future generations. We have cut down the earth’s natural forests, polluted the earth’s waters, its land and its air.

The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. We are using more and more polluting fossil fuels which is contributing to climate change. Climate change one of the biggest challenges we face today. Climate change will affect us all, but it will be the poorest communities who will suffer the most. And despite these problems, we are not slowing down on how much we consume and throw away; leaving a trail of waste and destruction. We cannot continue like this. We can change, and we can make a new start.

The whole human family needs to work together to care for our planet earth So that we sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. So, let’s put love for the world and love for our neighbours, into action, by living together in harmony, and caring for nature.

Will you play your part to look after our common home?

Can you take simple everyday eco-actions to care for the earth, like turning off lights, reducing water waste and recycling?

And will you live more simply, reducing the amount of things we buy and throw away, so that we don’t take more than our fair share?

The world can’t wait! So, let’s make that start today. Play your part to protect our common home.

Love Pope Francis

Cafod explains Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ as a letter to discuss the damage being inflicted on the Earth by humans and calls on ‘every person living on this planet’ to make urgent changes to our lifestyles and how we consume energy in order to protect the planet.

It deals with many environmental issues including pollution; climate change; water; loss of biodiversity and decline in the quality of human life.

In his letter Pope Francis implores us to work together to create a better world for future generations and asks us to make the necessary changes in our lives in order to take care of, respect and value our ‘common home’.

Cafod has many resources to support the understanding and teaching of Laudato Si’. Click on the link below to see an animation to help support this message. The aim of the animation is to help explain and communicate the message of Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ to children, and to inspire them to take action and to explore key principles of Catholic Social Teaching while also supporting RE lessons.

For more information, visit Cafod: Laudato Si’ for Children

LiveSimply for Schools

We are committed to supporting Pope Francis’ message and have signed up to the LiveSimply award where we commit to one substantial and at least two smaller actions in each of these categories:

• Simply
• In solidarity with people in poverty
• Sustainably with creation 

The LiveSimply award is an opportunity for Catholic communities – parishes, schools, religious orders and chaplaincies – to respond to Pope Francis’ invitation in Laudato Si’ to “work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us”.

We hope that you will join us on our journey to spread the message.