Carlo Petrini, founder of the international Slow Food movement, to broaden his environmental appeal.

Despite their different ideologies, the two leaders have joined together to bring awareness to an issue that affects all of humanity.

The "special Laudato si' anniversary year" is an initiative of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The Dicastery has organised events this week in the lead-up to the celebratory year, including several Zoom video-conferencing meetings with the Global Catholic Climate Movement.

"We hope that the anniversary year and the ensuing decade will indeed be a time of grace, a true Kairos experience and ‘Jubilee' time for the Earth, and for humanity, and for all God's creatures," the Dicastery says.

The initiatives, undertaken in partnership with other groups, have "a clear emphasis on ‘ecological conversion' in ‘action,'" it continued.

In the five years since Francis signed the encyclical, the Dicastery says it "appears ever more relevant," and given that the anniversary falls in the midst of the global pandemic, its "message is just as prophetic today as it was in 2015.

"The encyclical can indeed provide the moral and spiritual compass for the journey to create a more caring, fraternal, peaceful and sustainable world," the Dicastery comments.

In England Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who is the Archbishop of Westminster, is preparing for the celebrations. This week he published a video where he applauds "the great leadership of Pope Francis".

Nichols says the anniversary is an opportunity, "to reassess our relationship with our beautiful world".

Other English bishops have marked the upcoming anniversary - one with a special Mass which was live-streamed from England's Salford Cathedral, another praising the encyclical saying it is a "prophetic document that has given a theological and spiritual framework to the environmental crisis facing our world".

The official five-eyar anniversary celebrations organised by the Dicastery will begin on Sunday with a day of prayer for the earth and humanity. A prayer was written for the occasion which people are being encouraged to say at noon anywhere in the world.

In June, the Dicastery plans to release a document on "operation guidelines" for Laudato si'. On 18 June there will be a webinar marking the encyclical's release anniversary.

Other special projects this year will include new annual Laudato si' Awards, a documentary film on Laudato si', a tree initiative, and a social media "Read the Bible Contest,". In addition there will be and the ecumenical "Season of Creation" month which will run from the beginning of September to the beginning of October.

Next year, the Dicastery will begin a seven-year programme for families, dioceses, schools, and universities. The programme will work toward integral ecology through the lens of Laudato si'.

The anniversary year will conclude in 2021 with a conference, the launch of multi-year sustainability action plans, the performance of a musical work and the conferring of the first Laudato si' awards.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• The Tablet
• Image:Abouna.org

To mark 5th anniversary of the publication of the Encyclical Laudato Sì, Pope Francis has made 16 to 24 May Laudato Si Week.

The Pope said that "in this time marked by the pandemic we are more aware of the importance of caring for our common home," and he invites everyone to think about and undertake "a shared commitment to help build and strengthen constructive attitudes."

Caritas is suggesting that as the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, the message of Laudato Si', that all of life is interconnected, is a timely reminder of the need for coordinated action to overcome interrelated environmental, economic and social crises.

Caritas is inviting Catholics and all people of goodwill to mark Laudato Si Week by:

• Praying a Common Prayer at noon local time.
• Taking greater steps to care for our common home, through online training and practical action where possible, to celebrate Laudato Si' Week.

Caritas members and partners around Oceania will join in tree-planting, clean-ups and promotional events during the week.

Online events

• Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development & Global Catholic Climate Movement:
  18-22 May: four 1.5 hour webinars during the week on eco-spirituality, sustainability, advocacy, and social action in light of Laudato Si'. Register and more information here - to participate or view recordings later.
• Caritas Australia/Catholic Earthcare: Thursday 21 May, 1 pm (NZT): Prayer, Reflection and Discussion, including discussion on life after COVID-19. Register here.
• Caring for our Common Home in Oceania; stories from the region click here
• Wednesday 20 May, 6 pm (NZT): Online global youth panel on the climate crisis: for youth aged 16-25 years from New Zealand, Australia, Malta, and Tonga. Register here

Source

• Supplied: Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
• vaticannews.va
• Image: caritas.org.nz

Archbishop Pedro Barreto Jimeno of Huancayo said the encyclical, to be released on June 18, will have many critics.

This is because "because they want to continue setting rules of the game in which money takes first place".

"We have to be prepared for those kinds of attacks."

The archbishop said that there would controversy once people had read the Pope's new encyclical because resisting the "throwaway culture" by being satisfied with less means "putting money at the service of people, instead of people serving money".

Archbishop Barreto worked closely with then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in 2007 on a document by the Latin American bishops' council that included an unprecedented section on the environment.

The archbishop was not involved with the drafting of the new encyclical.

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A Twitter posting by a Spanish journalist from an event at the Vatican publishing house responsible for printing official documents revealed the information.

The encyclical will be given an Italian subtitle: "Sulla cura della casa comune" (On the care of the common home), the journalist stated.

The Vatican press office neither confirmed nor denied the document title or release date.

The phrase "Laudato Sii" reoccurs several times in St Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Sun.

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