Laudato Si - Care for our Common Home

Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’, is an invitation to everyone on the planet to care for our common home. The encyclical was published on the 18 June 2015.

Pope Francis challenges us to consider the kind of world we want to leave to those who come after us. The encyclical discusses the damage being inflicted on the Earth by humans and calls on ‘every person living on this planet’ to make urgent changes to our lifestyles.

Dear St Dunstan's, 

The earth is God’s gift to us, full of beauty and wonder. And it belongs to everyone. But what we see today is that our common home has never been so hurt and mistreated. We have developed at a greater speed than we could have ever imagined, and have treated the earth like it has an unlimited supply of resources. We have taken more than our fair share from most people on the planet, as well as future generations. We have cut down the earth’s natural forests, polluted the earth’s waters, its land and its air.

The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. We are using more and more polluting fossil fuels which is contributing to climate change. Climate change one of the biggest challenges we face today. Climate change will affect us all, but it will be the poorest communities who will suffer the most. And despite these problems, we are not slowing down on how much we consume and throw away; leaving a trail of waste and destruction. We cannot continue like this. We can change, and we can make a new start.

The whole human family needs to work together to care for our planet earth So that we sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. So let’s put love for the world and love for our neighbours, into action, by living together in harmony, and caring for nature.

• Will you play your part to look after our common home?
• Can you take simple everyday eco-actions to care for the earth, like turning off lights, reducing water waste and recycling?
• And will you live more simply, reducing the amount of things we buy and throw away, so that we don’t take more than our fair share?

The world can’t wait! So let’s make that start today. Play your part to protect our common home.

Love Pope Francis