5th Anniversary of Laudato Si’: Saved In Soul & Body Together

june/july2020

Laudato Si’ at 5: Saved in Soul and Body Together

By Archbishop John C. Wester

“I f there’s one thing we’ve been able to learn in all this time, it’s that no one is saved alone,” Pope Francis said as he explored the moral and spiritual implications of this pandemic. We are all connected, and now we have become more aware of our dependence on the people who process food, deliver groceries, collect trash, and provide health care. What will we do with this newfound awareness of our interdependence? Can we emerge as a stronger community, a more unified nation, and a more collaborative world? On the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical on ecology, Laudato Si, I pray our resolve is strengthening to see that we are all in this together.

In Laudato Si, Pope Francis illuminates the moral implications of climate change and ecological devastation. He calls us to recognize the earth as our shared home and that “the human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together.” If we forget that we are sisters and brothers sharing a common home that is a gift from God, then greed and inequality run rampant. Pollution and climate disruption are sure to follow. In Pope Francis’ smiling, joyful way, he also brings us back to hope: “For all our limitations, gestures of generosity, solidarity and care cannot but well up within us, since we were made for love.”

I believe a paradox is emerging: while we are isolating ourselves, a new spirit of togetherness is growing. As Christians, there is rich meaning to contemplate in being the Body of Christ and abiding in Christ as a people. As Catholics, we should be attuned to this reality even more, since our faith is communal on so many levels. The Church’s document Lumen Gentium puts it clearly:

God, however, does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather has it pleased Him to bring men together as one people….

Pope Francis says, “An emergency like COVID-19 is defeated in the first place with the antibodies of solidarity.” I write again: we are all connected. The suffering of others halfway around the world is not isolated, but affects all of us. God has bound us together as sisters and brothers. People of faith must recognize and name this deeper, spiritual truth of what is happening in society today.

Pope Francis discusses coronavirus alongside other “epidemics,” including ecological destruction, hunger and war. He asserts the pandemic has helped us realize the importance of “uniting the entire human family in the search for sustainable and comprehensive development.” In his Earth Day message he said: “We have no future if we destroy the very environment that sustains us.”

A new world will emerge from COVID-19, and Christians must help ensure it is a more generous, unified one. We can embrace international cooperation on global issues including this pandemic, immigration, and climate change. We can build a more resilient world that can respond to crises. We can act now on climate change to head off the intensifying hurricanes, fires, floods, and disease outbreaks, including West Nile Virus that is projected to double in the U.S. in the coming decades because of warming temperatures.

Pope Francis likes to say, “Dios perdona siempre, nosotros de vez en cuando, y la naturaleza nunca” – God always forgives; we sometimes forgive; nature never forgives. If we extend grace to one another in these challenging times, and if we answer the call of our infinitely forgiving God to live as one human family, we just may endure the worst from nature and create a more loving world.