The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has prepared a Message for the celebration of the second World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, 1 September 2016. It is entitled Show Mercy to our Common Home. From its very title,the Message situates our living-out of Laudato Si’ squarely within the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
By way of preparation for the Pope’s message, two important earlier Messages are recommended reading.:
- St John Paul II’s Peace with God the Creator, Peace with All of Creation (1990) http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/it/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_19891208_xxiii-world-day-for-peace.html
- and Pope Benedict XVI’s If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation (2010) http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/it/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20091208_xliii-world-day-peace.html
You may also wish to re-read Laudato Si’, especially chapter 6, “Ecological education and spirituality” and look at the Holy Father’s own brief presentation, the beautiful YouTube Care for Creation, https://youtu.be/19v0A19DDXs For useful resources on Laudato si’, please visit http://www.laudatosi.va
The Message will be presented on Thursday morning 1 September in the Vatican Press Hall. The press conference can be watched via live streaming (audio-video) at http://www.radiovaticana.va/ where it will subsequently remain available on demand.