An In-Person and Online Public Dialogue on
Caring for the Environment and Each Other: Pope Francis’ Follow-up to Laudato Si’

Thursday, October 12, 2023
6:00 – 7:00 pm EDT

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In 2015 Pope Francis issued Laudato Si’, a major encyclical on the environment offering a hopeful vision that challenged us all to better care for “our common home.” On October 4, 2023, Pope Francis will release Laudate Deum, an unprecedented follow-up document to highlight the urgent need for a more sustained response to the ecological crisis in light of the climate crisis and developments in the last eight years.

Laudato Si’ challenged the world to understand that we’re connected with each other, with the natural environment, and with those who will come after us, and that ecological crises are moral challenges that affect the poor and vulnerable most of all. Pope Francis called for all of us to hear both the “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” and to ask with humility: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” He offered a vision defined by the conviction that “…we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it.”

Five exceptional leaders will discuss the renewed challenges and new questions posed by Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum:

Five exceptional leaders will discuss the renewed challenges and new questions posed by Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum:

• Jose Aguto is the executive director of Catholic Climate Covenant. He has previously worked at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the National Congress of American Indians, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s American Indian Environmental Office; and he served in the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army.
• Sharon Lavigne is the 2021 Goldman Prize for North America recipient and the 2022 Laetare Medal recipient from the University of Notre Dame. She leads Rise St. James, a faith-based grassroots organization that fights for environmental justice in St. James Parish, Louisiana.
• John Mundell is the director of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, a project of the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development. He also runs his own environmental consulting firm which is part of the Focolare Movement’s Economy of Communion, a business network that focuses on addressing economic inequality.
• Riley Talbot (C’24), a Georgetown student studying government, theology, and environmental studies, will open the gathering. Riley is also a policy and outreach associate with Catholic Climate Covenant.
• Christiana Zenner is an associate professor of theology, science, and ethics in the department of theology at Fordham University. Her research and teaching have focused on issues of fresh water ethics, environmental justice, and Catholic social teaching.

Kim Daniels, director of the Initiative and member of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, will moderate the discussion.