Laudato Si: Taking Stock and New Challenges

Pope Francis's encyclical "Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home," was published in 2015. This encyclical, addressed to "every person living on this planet," was the first to centralize ecology and to frame care of creation as a critical moral obligation. The document was widely promulgated and discussed not only within the church, but also in mainstream media channels and in the secular academy.

Where do we find ourselves since the publication of this document? What does natural science say about how various planetary challenges outlined in the document developed? Have the messages of "Laudato Si'" been effectively communicated by the institutional church? What are theological responses to this document, and to new challenges posed since its penning?

Benjamin de Foy is a professor in the department of earth and atmospheric sciences at St. Louis University. His research employs computer models to better understand emissions of air pollution, using data from satellites. He is a member of NASA's Air Quality Applied Science Team. He has spoken widely on Laudato Si' and climate change.

Daniel DiLeo is associate professor and director of the Justice and Peace Studies Program at Creighton University. His teaching, research, and scholarship focus on Catholic social teaching, public theology, and climate change. Since 2009, he has been a consultant with Catholic Climate Covenant of which the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is a founding member. He is an alumnus of Cornell University ('09).

Christiana Zenner is Associate Professor of Theology, Science and Ethics in the Department of Theology at Fordham University, where she is affiliated faculty in Environmental Studies and American Studies. Her research into emerging and established fresh water ethics intersects with ecological theory, religious ecologies, developments in earth sciences, and the ecological turn in Catholic social teaching.


This project is made possible by the grant, "In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on College Campuses Nationwide," (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation.