Pope Francis’ next environmental document to be called ‘Laudate Deum’

By Hannah Brockhaus

Catholic News Agency

ROME— Pope Francis’ new document on the environment, to be released Oct. 4, will be called Laudate Deum.

The pope shared the name of his latest apostolic exhortation during a meeting with Latin American university rectors on Sept. 21, though the speech was only made public by Vatican News in Spanish on Monday afternoon.

According to Vatican News, while speaking about the environment and the “culture of abandonment,” Pope Francis revealed that his new document on the topic will be titled Laudate Deum, which means “Praise God” in Latin.

It will be, he said, “a look at what has happened and say what needs to be done,” Vatican News reported.

In the same speech to 200 university personnel, Francis reflected on what he has termed a throwaway culture, saying it reveals “a lack of education to use the things that remain, to remake them, to replace them in the order of the common use of things.”

He encouraged a “good use of nature,” including practical actions that can help the environment, such as the installation of solar panels.

The pope also noted how environmental degradation can lead to another kind of “degradation,” namely, in how we treat others, especially those who are already living with fewer resources.

Pope Francis announced last month he would be releasing a follow-up document to the 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’. He later said it would be published on Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

Oct. 4 is also the first day of a monthlong assembly for the Synod on Synodality and the conclusion of the Season of Creation, a Vatican-supported ecumenical initiative about caring for the environment.

Laudato Si’ is the second of three encyclicals published in Pope Francis’ pontificate thus far. It was released in June 2015.

The theme of the encyclical, which means “Praise be to you,” is human ecology, a phrase first used by Pope Benedict XVI. The document addresses issues such as climate change, care for the environment, and the defense of human life and dignity.

Pope Francis said Aug. 30 that the second part to Laudato Si’ would be the kind of papal document known as an “exhortation.”

Francis has so far published five apostolic exhortations during his pontificate, including Evangelii Gaudium in 2013 and Amoris Laetitia in 2016.

The feast of St. Francis of Assisi was also the date in 2020 that Pope Francis chose to release his most recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, about fraternity and social friendship.