An official of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development announced a seven-year plan to promote Laudato si in various communities.
Father Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam, coordinator of the Sector on Ecology and Creation in the dicastery, said the program is aimed to translate the message of the encyclical on the care of the environment to the people.
In an online forum on August 24, the priest said the program will include activities, projects, and events that local church communities and civil society groups can participate in.
Father Kureethadam priest said the program will target not only Catholic or religious communities but will include civil society groups, governments, and other private institutions.
One of the “special projects” that will start this year is a documentary film on Laudato si’ that will highlights best practices on environmental protection.
Other projects include the building of Laudato si’ chapels and gardens in different countries and the establishment of Laudato si’ Institutes Network.
Father Kureethadam said the seven-year program aims to encourage communities to take and fulfill the “seven Laudato si’ goals.”
“Laudato si’ goals” are “personal missions” that the public is invited to perform to bring out “concrete and transformative” ecological actions.
On June 18, the Vatican released a 200-page document that aims to inspire and guide Christians to act on the call of the Church to promote integral ecology and care of creation.
The text titled “On the Journey for Care of the Common Home” guides the public on how to perform personal tasks to achieve concrete measures, such as diet, recycling, and divestment on dirty energy sources, among others.
“We intend to begin by inviting a certain number of institutions to begin their seven-year journey of integral ecology in the spirit of Laudato si,” said Kureethadam.
“The following year, we will encourage a new set of groups, hopefully, double the number of the previous batch, to begin their seven-year journey, and so on,” he added.
Father Kureethadam said the Catholic Church is planning to grow a Laudato si’ network that will continue to expand and grow “exponentially” every year.
“In this way, we hope to arrive at a ‘critical mass’ needed for radical societal transformation invoked by Pope Francis in his encyclical,” said the priest.
He said many of the major events and activities for the seven-year promotion of Laudato si will begin in this year’s observance of the “Season of Creation.”
From September 1 to October 4, Christians around the world will observe the “Season of Creation” with the theme “The Hope of a Jubilee Time for the Earth and the Poor.”
Father Kureethadam said the observance is an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of jubilee, which is a “time to renew” the relationship of human beings with the environment.
He said the details of the seven-year action plan and the Laudato si goals will be made available on the dicastery’s website.
In May, the Vatican announced a year-long observance of the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the “Care of Our Common Home.”
