Laudate Deum (‘Praise God’) is Pope Francis’ new apostolic exhortation published on 4 October 2023 addressing today’s environmental and human challenges.

The Holy Father focuses on the situation of climate change in Laudate Deum, which is styled as a follow-up to the 2015 Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’.

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has shared a summary which can be viewed here and we share details below – Laudate Deum: Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis – Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Laudate Deum is composed of six Chapters:

In the first, The Global Climate Crisis, Pope Francis warns that climate change is undeniable, and its effects are becoming increasingly evident “despite some attempts to minimize or ridicule them” (LD 6). He further regrets that the main cause of this problem is human activity and adds that, while we cannot correct such damage, we can still take steps to prevent even more serious damage in the future.

In the second Chapter, the Holy Father addresses the technocratic paradigm and stresses that nature is not a resource to be exploited without end and urges us to recognise that unbridled ambition is not ethically sustainable (LD 28).

In the third Chapter, Francis refers to the weakness of international politics and stresses the urgent need for global cooperation through new multilateral agreements between States (LD 43).

In the fourth Chapter, the Pope reflects on climate conferences: progress and failures and encourages to overcome the selfish positions of countries for the benefit of the global common good (LD 44, 52) and in the fifth Chapter to reflect on what is expected from COP28 in Dubai? if we do not want to doom humanity.

In the last chapter, Spiritual Motivations, the Holy Father calls upon people of all religious confessions to respond. Finally, Pope Francis invites us to walk in communion, together, synodally, and to commit ourselves to “reconciliation with the world that shelters us” (LD 69).

“Pope Francis bases his call to all people in the science behind climate change and the urgency of this as a planetary problem,” says Sr Mary-Ann Casanova, Project Leader for the Josephite commitment to Laudato Si’.

“Like in Laudato Si’ he draws on the wisdom of the universal church and cites bishops and other statements from across the globe. Help us spread Pope Francis’ wisdom by sharing this call to action.”

For Sr Mary-Ann, three points stand out…

• it is no longer possible to doubt the human ‘anthropic’ origin of climate change
• what is being asked of us is nothing other than a certain responsibility for the legacy we will leave behind, and
• we are helping to bring about large processes of transformation rising from deep within society

To understand Laudate Deum at a glance view the graphic below:

View the full document here: Laudate Deum: Apostolic Exhortation to all people of good will on the climate crisis (4 October 2023) | Francis (vatican.va)