“Let us be protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and the environment.” 
Pope Francis

What is Laudato Si'?

In Laudato Si' - On Care For Our Common Home, Pope Francis urges society to move away from the myth of perennial progress at the expense of the Earth’s resources, and calls on us to recognise that development which fails to respect the Earth is a false economy.

The encyclical says that at the root of the crisis we face our tendency to place humanity over and above the rest of creation. This is closely linked to the technocratic paradigm - the idea that we have confused the increase in control and manipulation of the world with progress. The Pope thinks we experience these ways of thinking as a consumerist culture characterised by wastefulness, indifference and the “rapidification” of daily life. All this, he suggests, is to the detriment of relationships with ourselves, our neighbours, the earth and God.

Instead, we need a new definition of progress rooted in “integral ecology”, recognising that “everything is connected” and hearing both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. Pope Francis calls for all people to dialogue in society about how best to tackle the global issues we face.

Though a common plan is needed, he says, there are differentiated responsibilities and we require an approach that puts care for the very poorest at the centre of the way we live our lives.

"We are Guardians of Creation."