The Earth and Pope Francis: Care and Justice for Our Common Home

In his encyclical Laudato Si, the late Pope Francis I challenged Christians and all people of conscience to stop the environmental destruction of our planet. Subtitled “On Care for our Common Home,” his message urged everyone to see our circles of family and neighbors to include all creation. He called for widening our individual concerns to embrace the suffering inflicted on the most vulnerable, especially the poor, by pollution and climate change. He challenged us to see future generations as neighbors needing our care. The papal letter begins by quoting St. Francis’s Canticle of Creation: “‘LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore’ – ‘Praise be to you, my Lord.’” Pope Francis wrote, “In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us.”

The Rev. Norman MacLeod is a retired Episcopal priest living in Newport. Over the past twenty years he has preached and spoken about the Christian responsibility for care for the Earth while serving parishes throughout New England. In 2015 he co-led a Pilgrimage for Earth in New Hampshire and Vermont. In the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island, he served as co-chair of the Creation Care Ministry for three years. Partnered by experts in sea level rise and water conservation, he recently developed Christian pilgrimages of Aquidneck Island’s coastline and watersheds.