Laudato Si’ Week sees Catholic Church take action in record numbers

Laudato Si’ Week, the weeklong event marking the seventh anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical on creation care, saw a record number of Catholics take urgent action for our common home.

From Argentina to Italy to Australia, Catholics led global online events that inspired tens of thousands of people participating online. Locally, more events than ever were organized by everyday Catholics in their communities. All told, hundreds of thousands of Catholics participated in Laudato Si’ Week 2022.

Tomás Insua, Executive Director of Laudato Si’ Movement, said: “The incredible response from the global Catholic Church during Laudato Si’ Week shows the beautiful diversity and breadth of this global movement to care for God’s creation. Together, Laudato Si’ Week provided hope to millions of Catholics across the world who are in desperate need of such light. There is still so much more to be done, as the climate emergency and ecological crisis are getting worse throughout the world. But we all should take hope in the fact that every year, more and more Catholics are committing to urgent action for our common home.”

To close Laudato Si’ Week 2022, Auxiliary Bishop Vicente Ferreira of Belo Horizonte, in the Minas Gerais state of Brazil, compelled Catholics to come together and take further action: “We do not realize that it depends on our actions. I don’t want us to ever forget what happened… We can’t allow the mining companies to do what they want in our city. We have to stand together for our city and take action. We have to end our consumerism and create less waste.”

Laudato Si’ Week was led by Pope Francis, who kicked off the annual celebration during his May 22 Angelus by inviting everyone to “act together in taking care of our common home” and tweeted about #LaudatoSiWeek throughout the celebration. Next, Pope Francis has called on all Catholics to take part in the Season of Creation, the annual Christian celebration of prayer and action for our common home, which starts September 1 and ends October 4.

Laudato Si’ Week 2022 fast facts:

• A total of 295 events were registered on LaudatoSiWeek.org for the 2022 celebration. That number is 47 percent more than the number of events registered in 2021, and represents only a fraction of the number of events that took place on six continents during Laudato Si’ Week 2022.
• The global online events, broadcast live on the Laudato Si’ Movement YouTube and Facebook channels, have been viewed nearly 30,000 times.
• Nearly 2,000 people registered to watch the sneak peek of The Invitation, a new feature-length documentary film on Laudato Si’ that will have its global release later this year.
• Laudato Si’ Week 2022 was organized by a Steering Committee for the first time, reflecting the event’s focus on synodality, in line with “Synod 2021-2023: For a Synodal Church.”

Laudato Si’ Week 2022 was sponsored by the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and facilitated by Laudato Si’ Movement in collaboration with a cohort of Catholic partners.

Jonathon Braden

Writer
Nebraska, USA
Jonathon Braden has more than 10 years of writing and communications experience. He seeks to tell LSM’s story.