On behalf of all the people of the diocese of Kerry I warmly welcome the publication today, June 18th 2015 of Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the environment: Laudato Si – Praise be to you, my Lord. The title is apt being a phrase that occurs many times in ‘The Canticle of the Creatures’, Saint Francis’ powerful hymn in praise to God the Creator.
In an era when our earth and its people face so many crises and challenges, such as: climate change and extreme weather events; regional droughts and desertification; famine and poverty; refugees and displacement of millions of people, Pope Francis calls on us to take our share of responsibility for the future. His words are simple: “Care for our common home”.
In the relative comfort and security of our country, amid the natural beauty of all parts of our diocese, I ask that we all read and reflect on Pope Francis’ words. Take them to heart and allow them influence how we see and live in the world. Work for the world that we would all like to leave behind us for the children of tomorrow.
In the months and years ahead at all levels in the diocese we will seek, as an integral part of our living of the Gospel, to appreciate and to put into action the vision and challenge Pope Francis puts before us. Finally, in the words of St Francis’ ‘Canticle of the Creatures”:
“Praises be my Lord for our mother the earth,
who sustains us and keeps us and brings forth various fruits
and flowers of many colours and grass.
Praise and bless the Lord, and give thanks to him
and serve him with great humility.”
Bishop Ray Browne
CLICK HERE to link to the full text of Laudato Si
4 minute video introduction to the encyclical. CLICK HERE
The Pope speaks about his encyclical” Laudato Si” CLICK HERE
Watch this short video about Pope Francis & Climate Change CLICK HERE
Kerry Seminar: CLICK HERE
Additional Notes:
1. An Encyclical is a letter issued by the Pope to all Catholic Bishops around the world. Laudato Si‘ is Pope Francis’s second Encyclical. In June 2013 he released Lumen Fidei, which addressed issues such as faith and charity.
2. The environment has been a key theme of Francis’s papacy. In his inaugural address (March 2013), Pope Francis urged people to be “protectors of one another and of the environment,” reminding people that “everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it.”
3. In Evangelii Gaudium, an apostolic exhortation issued in November 2013, Pope Francis warned against an economic system which promotes exclusion, inequality and violence. He warned, “in this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increase profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenceless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule.” An apostolic exhortation is a letter to all Bishops, clergy and lay faithful.