VATICAN CITY – The Vatican plans to launch a new wave of initiatives for the next decade in an ongoing response to Pope Francis’ call for the care of creation.
The message of Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home” continues to be prophetic for a world reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, said the website for the Vatican’s Dicastery (Office) for Promoting Integral Human Development, which addresses environmental problems worldwide, among other issues. The pope recently appointed San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy to the influential body.
The encyclical provides a “moral and spiritual compass” for a “new way of living together, bonded together in love, compassion and solidarity” and in a more “harmonious relationship with the natural world, our common home,” the site says.
Some of the best things to emerge from people acting on the encyclical are their responses to a call for dialogue among experts in diverse fields, creating new and needed combinations and partnerships, said Tebaldo Vinciguerra, the official leading the Ecology and Creation desk at the Dicastery.
The office planned to unveil a preview of a “Laudato Si” Action Platform in the coming days ahead of its full launch Oct. 4 – as part of a “road map” of action for the next decade, he said. The platform is meant to help those who want to increase their commitment to bringing “Laudato Si” to life by promising a set of actions over a period of seven years.
Parishes, dioceses, families, businesses and NGOs or religious congregations will register to assess what they are doing now and to see how they can further contribute to the seven “Laudato Si” goals, he said.
How people choose to live day-to-day with an eye to creation is important, he said, as well as the larger policies and practices at all levels, in agriculture, trade, economics, debt and finance and supply chains.
For details of the “Laudato Si” Action Platform and related stories, visit thesoutherncross.org.
