This profound dedication to the care of Creation found its highest and most concrete expression in the 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’”, which marked a turning point in the relationship between faith and ecology. In it, Pope Francis called humanity to a profound ecological conversion, inviting everyone to protect the “common home”, forcefully denouncing the devastating effects of climate change, the indiscriminate depletion of natural resources and environmental injustice.
The Holy Father has repeatedly reiterated how environmental degradation particularly affects the poorest, connecting the ecological crisis to the social and spiritual one and highlighting that the "cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor" are intimately interconnected.
During his teaching, he vigorously promoted a model of sustainable agriculture, critical of intensive systems, based on profit and monocultures, which impoverish soil fertility, pollute water and exploit workers. Pope Francis supported an agroecological model that nourishes the earth instead of exploiting it, protects biodiversity, understood as the inestimable wealth of life on Earth, respects local cultures, the rights of small farmers and guarantees healthy and dignified food for all. A world that wastes food and produces inequality is morally reprehensible.
“With Pope Francis, a figure who has marked our time with his incessant commitment to social justice, environmental protection and biodiversity has disappeared. His criticism of the economic system that exploits and destroys the environment, of profit that prevails over the dignity of people and of the culture of waste, has offered a profound and necessary vision for our time - underlined Maria Grazia Mammuccini, President of FederBio - On World Earth Day, a message that remains more relevant than ever, continuing to inspire future generations. His legacy spurs us to continue with determination on the path of ecological conversion, taking care of the Earth and the most vulnerable”.
