Ten years of laudato if ‘: this has been its impact

A decade of its publication, the encyclical of Pope Francis Laudato yes, On the care of the common house and the ecological crisis, it continues to leave a deep mark in the social, political and scientific sphere, according to the opinion of several experts.

For the Professor of Biodiversity and Conservation at the Rey Juan Carlos University, María del Carmen Molina, this papal text has had an unprecedented impact on the history of the social teaching of the Church.

“This encyclical is the Church document most cited by the academic and scientific community,” says Molina, who is also a member of the Department of Integral Ecology of the Spanish Episcopal Conference. “In a quick search we can download more than 500 articles where this encyclical is considered in its argument. This is an unusual case,” he adds.

Academic interest in Laudato yes It has not declined since its publication on May 24, 2015. “It is as if it had been written yesterday. Something unique also in the history of the social doctrine of the Church,” says the professor.

In addition, Molina considers the encyclical as a bridge with whom they are far from the Church. “Probably one of his most important successes, from an evangelical and pastoral point of view, is to have approached the church to the peripheries … also to the ‘spiritual’, to all those for whom Christ was not in his agenda or personal or social,” he says.

In addition, this encyclical, says Molina, has visible a tradition present in the Church from Santo Tomás de Aquino, which Francisco knew how to translate to the present.

Key at the Paris Climate Summit

One of the most notable milestones of the political impact of Laudato yes It was his influence on the Paris Climate Summit (COP21), held a few months after publication.

Ségolène Royal, then Minister of Environment of France, expressly asked the Pope to publish the text before the summit to offer it as an ethical and spiritual guide to world leaders.

Other international leaders present at the summit as the president of the United States, Barack Obama; the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon; or German Chancellor Angela Merkel highlighted the importance of the encyclical in the negotiations, and the delegation of the Holy See, headed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, had an active participation, although without the right to vote.

“The encyclical has given voice to science and has transferred to the believing community that science has value,” says Fidel González Rouco, research professor at the Institute of Geosciences of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) of Spain.

González Rouco, who is also a member of the IPCC- the UN scientific panel that evaluates climate change- emphasizes that “the scientific and religious approach are not antagonistic” and values ​​that Laudato yes recognize in its chapters 14, 15 and 16 “the value of science and technology to understand the effect that man has had on nature.”

It also underlines the impulse it has given to the global dialogue and solidarity since, he says, “respecting the environment is not different from respecting the human and future generations.”

For the climatologist, the encyclical has reinforced the 2030 Agenda and the commitment to policies to mitigate and adapt to climate change “in solidarity with those who have more difficulty developing.”

He adds that the Catholic Church, by assuming a vision “clear and supported by science”, defends essential rights such as “access to water, food and a healthy environment.”

Laudato yes Boat with Juan Pablo II and Benedict XVI

Although many received it as a great novelty, the Church has insisted that it is not an isolated irruption. “If you study the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, by Paul VI, of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and the teachings of the Catechism and the compendium of the social doctrine of the Church, it can be seen that they have given much importance to the ecological problem,” says the theologian Tomás Trigo Oubiña, Emeritus Professor of the University of Navarra.

The expert puts as examples of that legacy the encyclical Anxiety of social situations by John Paul II or the Reflections of Benedict XVI on the concept of human ecology.

“It has cost me to find in Francisco’s encyclical ideas and teachings that were no longer explicit or implicit in the previous teaching,” he says, although he emphasizes that the novelty was that the Argentine pontiff dedicated an entire encyclical to this issue.

“That caused his teachings to reach a broader audience, much of which he did not know the previous teaching,” adds the theologian, which published the book in 2016 Take care of creation of Eunsa publishing house precisely about Francisco’s second encyclical.

Father Oubiña also confirms that the book of Genesis is key to understanding that Christian vision demands an ecological conversion.

“It is rooted in the Bible and already It was explained by San Juan Pablo II In 1990, when he affirmed that the duty to take care of the environment is part of the Christian commitment, ”he says.

Key role of the family

The tenth anniversary has suddenly become a tribute and an opportunity to read the encyclical and look for new angles.

Dolores López Hernández, professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Navarra, highlights the role that Francisco granted to the family in the encyclical, an aspect that he considers that the media have not paid enough attention.

“It clearly points out that where you have to learn to be good gardeners in creation and love each other in the family,” López Hernández appreciates.

“It is in the family where you learn to discover the beauty of nature, the beauty of dawn, the need to take care of life, to live a sober life, the need to listen,” he adds.

Influence in the scientific world

The impact of Laudato yes It continues to resonate in the very heart of scientific innovation. Prestigious scientific journals such as Nature o Global Challenges They dedicated editorial items to this document from which movements such as Francisco’s economy – implemented by the Pope in dialogue with young economists – who promote sustainable economic models also emerged.

As Laban Coblentz, head of communications of the iter (international experimental thermonuclear reactor), one of the largest research projects on the planet dedicated to nuclear fusion energy, “undoubtedly, without a doubt, without a doubt, Laudato sI ‘has been widely influential. ”

“That Pope Francis will articulate in a reflexively and deep way the position of the Church on environmental policy – bassing his arguments not in traditions of conservatism or liberalism, but in an understanding of humanity, faith and responsibility – it was a historical achievement,” he adds.

Iter, located in southern France and supported by 35 nations – including China, Russia, the United States and the European Union – seeks to replicate on earth the fusion that feeds to the sun, offering a clean and potentially unlimited source of energy. For Coblentz, the project is very in tune with the lines that the Argentine pontiff drew in his encyclical.

“Iter, as an international fusion research project, embodies some of the principles expressed in Laudato yes. Despite the recent geopolitical conflicts, the members of the project – China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States – continue working to achieve a better energy legacy for the future of humanity, ”explains Coblentz.

It also emphasizes that the effect of Laudato yes It has been felt in the configuration of environmental policies and international forums. “The previous absence of such a document allowed many leaders to separate their personal responsibility for the environmental impact of their public actions. Laudato yes unified that duality and exposed the intellectual dishonesty of that divided approach, ”Coblentz emphasizes.

A new impulse with Pope Leo XIV

The legacy of the encyclical, a decade later, continues today with renewed force. “We are on the crest of the wave, much remains to be done and there are no lack of initiatives and creativity,” concludes Molina.

The professor celebrates the explicit support of Pope Leo XIV, who Recently sent a message to the participants of the Meeting of the Network of Universities For the care of the common house in Rio de Janeiro, in preparation for the next COP30.

In that message, the first in videothe American pontiff encouraged to consider ecological debt in international negotiations and to work for socio -environmental justice, thus offering continuity to Francisco’s approach.

In the video, Leo XIV asked the participants “to be builders of integration bridges between the Americas and with the Iberian Peninsula, working for an ecological, social and environmental justice.”

A summary of Laudato yes

The title of the encyclical laudato yes (“Alabado Seas, my lord”) comes from San Francisco de Asís, who in his song of creatures remembers that the earth is our common house. Pope Francis invited people, animals and nature not as exploitation objects, but as part of creation.

The encyclical proposes integral ecology as a new paradigm of justice, integrating the position of the human being in the world and its relations with the environment.

It highlights the need for justice for the poor, denounces the deterioration of the quality of life and social decline, and indicates the existing inequalities.

The Pope warns about “carefree irresponsibility” and asks to create rules that protect ecosystems and the most vulnerable populations.

In addition, it proposes a change of life based on an ecological conversion, highlighting the civil and political dimension of love, its relationship with the Trinity, the Sacraments and Mary, Queen of Creation.

He also states that Christian faith motivates the care of nature and the most fragile, and emphasizes that creation is a gift from God to administer, not to destroy.