Laudato si'

Laudato si' (in the Umbrian dialect of medieval Italian meaning Praise be) is the name of the second encyclical of Pope Francis, signed on May 24, Solemnity of Pentecost, in 2015, and presented on June 18 of 2015.

The encyclical focuses on planet Earth as the place where people live, advocating for nature, animal life, and energy reforms in six chapters. Francis makes a "scathing critique of consumerism and irresponsible development with a plea for swift and unified global action to combat environmental degradation and climate change." The Pope emphasizes that this is an encyclical that must be included in the Social Magisterium of the Church. He explicitly clarifies that this is not just another “green” discourse, but rather urges public and private sectors to “recognize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach, which must integrate justice in discussions about the environment, to hear both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor” (49).

It is the second encyclical published by Francis, after Lumen fidei of 2013, although Lumen fidei was largely written by Benedict XVI, making Laudato si  the first encyclical written entirely by Francis.

 Content 
The encyclical is divided into six chapters:

 Chapter 1. What is happening to our land 
It addresses recent research on the environmental and ecological crisis, interpreting them as the "cry of creation" calling for solutions.

 Chapter 2. The Gospel of Creation 
To address these issues, based on the biblical accounts of creation, offers a general overview of nature and expresses the responsibility that human beings have toward creation and the ties that unite all beings in nature, considering the environment as a common heritage and a responsibility for everyone.

 Chapter 3. Human roots of the ecological crisis 
The chapter offers an analysis of the ecological crisis, focusing on its human causes: technology, the economic systems around the world, globalization, and anthropocentrism, among others.

 Chapter 4. An integral ecology 
Pope Francis uses the concept of an "integral ecology"' as a new paradigm of justice, an ecology that "incorporates the peculiar place of the human being in this world and his relations with the reality that surrounds him". It considers the link between environmental, social and human issues that cannot be broken or separated, so that the solutions must be integral and "consider the interactions of natural systems with each other and with social systems", since there are not two separate crisis (environmental and social) but only one. Problems must be addressed in a comprehensive manner, which implies collective work.

 Chapter 5. Some lines of guidance and action 
A reinforcement of the concept of building concrete and stable solutions through dialogue and consensus; and debates must be honest and avoid ideologization. Everyone must participate in this dialogue: states, social organizations, supranational entities, and of course, religions, which must also open themselves to dialogue with the sciences.

 Chapter 6. Ecological education and spirituality 
The encyclical here calls for an ecological "conversion", as it finds it necessary to redesign habits and behaviors. 

 Reactions 
The Encyclical was the subject of major headlines and coverage by the international press, which, focused mostly only on ecological and environmental issues, such as human responsibility in global warming. However, the media often neglected or ignored the other themes of the encyclical and its proposed solutions.

 References 

Category:Sustainable development
Category:Pope Francis