Statement by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone On the Occasion of the Launch of the Holy Father’s Laudato Si Action Platform

The Laudato Si Action Platform is a global initiative launched by Pope Francis to develop “a new ecological approach that can transform our way of inhabiting the world, our lifestyles, our relationship with the Earth’s resources and, in general, our way of looking at humanity and of living life.” We will journey together as individuals and communities to ensure our lifestyles reflect our love of the Creator and our thankfulness for His gift of creation. I invite you all to participate within the context of your own lives.

To this end, I invite you all to better educate yourselves on the changes we need to make in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while prioritizing the needs of the vulnerable in the face of this climate crisis. Let us also encourage the nation’s leaders to protect our common home, showing them that these issues are important to our faith communities.

It has now been a little over six years since Pope Francis’ encyclical was published. However, we should not file this document away and forget about it. Action is still needed to make the message of “Laudato si” a part of our lives as individuals and as a society.

God gave us, His human creatures, stewardship of the earth. Let us do everything possible to cherish our common home as the gift God has given us to live our vocations in service to one another, and so work out the salvation won for us by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Note: The Laudato Si Action Platform launches globally Nov. 14, 2021. The LSAP is a list of seven goals that the Holy Father has outlined to help spur a worldwide grassroots effort to mobilize Catholics to take action on the environment over a period of seven years. More information at www.laudatosiactionplatform.org. and www.sfarch.org/laudato-si-action-platform