This year’s Laudato Si’ Week falls within the Church’s Jubilee Year and marks ten years since the publication of Laudato Si’. We also find ourselves mourning the death of Pope Francis, whose voice shaped much of the Church’s moral and spiritual response to the climate crisis. These converging moments ask of us a different kind of attention.
In 2015, Laudato Si’ offered more than guidance on environmental stewardship. It gave language to something many already knew but struggled to name: that the ecological crisis is also a crisis of relationship. It called for an integrated response, one that considers the lives of people, the wellbeing of communities, the health of the earth, and the systems that bind them together. It was not an abstract appeal. It was, and remains, a pastoral and political challenge.
Ten years later, we are more aware of the scale of the problem. The evidence is harder to ignore. So is the unevenness of its impact. In some parts of the world, the question is how to reduce emissions. In others, it is how to survive. The Church’s voice, when grounded in lived experience and guided by the Gospel, can help hold these realities together without flattening them.
This year’s theme, Raising Hope, comes at a time when hope is often misunderstood. It is not about feeling encouraged or waiting for things to improve. It has to do with how we live, what we choose, and what we refuse to accept. Hope, in this sense, is shaped by memory, community, and conscience.
Pope Francis reminded us that the way we treat the earth reflects how we treat one another. That insight continues to matter. Many of the same forces that exploit land and water also diminish human life. Climate justice requires us to listen closely to those who have been most affected and least heard. It requires humility, and it requires persistence.
The Jubilee Year offers a space to consider what we have inherited and what we are leaving behind. It is not only a time of reflection. It is also a call to restore what has been damaged and to begin again, where needed, with greater care.
During Laudato Si’ Week, we remember the work that has been done over the past decade. More importantly, we look to the work that lies ahead. This is not a moment for gestures. It is a time for commitments that last beyond the week, the year, or the season. The commitments may look different depending on context. What matters is that they come from a place of integrity.
As we continue to honour the legacy of Laudato Si’ and the life of Pope Francis, may we do so not with sentiment, but with purpose.