Integral Ecology
Restoring just relationships
Pope Francis invites us to view our ministry for justice and peace as integrally related to our ministry on behalf of the planet: “… genuine care for our own lives and our relationships with nature are inseparable from fraternity, justice, and faithfulness to others.” (Laudato Si, #70) The term Integral Ecology encompasses both the social and environmental, and emphasizes the relatedness between them. “St. Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically.....He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.” (Laudato Sí, #10)
Relationship with Earth
“Such love does the sky now pour,
that whenever I stand in a field,
I have to wring out the light
when I get home.”
- Francis of Assisi
Solidarity and Mission
“Today...we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”
- (Laudato Sí, #49)
Accompaniment, Service
and Peacemaking
“As the United States Bishops have said, greater attention must be given to ‘the needs of the poor, the weak and the vulnerable...’ We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family.”
- (Laudato Sí, #52)
Integral Ecology
“Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or secondary aspect of our Christian experience.”
(Laudato Sí, #217)
