Laudato si', mi Signore--Praise Be to You, My Lord! With these words of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis begins by reminding us of the Canticle of the Creatures that celebrates the earth as our common home, our sister, who embraces and blesses all of us, with abundance and beauty. But, in the words of Saint John Paul II, the world needs a global ecological conversion before it is too late. The world is already grievously wounded, and its continued degradation is having the greatest immediate impact upon the poor. Appealing to "every person living on this planet," drawing on the wisdom of the tradition of the church and the teachings of previous popes, with this encyclical Pope Francis reaches out to begin a "dialogue with all people" about what we are doing to our planet. +
