Pope Francis holds a weekly general audience in Paul VI hall, at the Vatican, August 30, 2023. REUTERS
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis, announcing that he will issue a new document on the protection of nature, said on Wednesday he was doing so because a “terrible world war” against the environment was taking place.
Speaking at his weekly general audience, Francis said the document, a followup to his landmark 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si” (Praised Be), would be issued on Oct. 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.
Laudato Si spoke of the need to protect the environment, face the dangers and challenges of climate change and reduce the use of fossil fuels. An encyclical is the highest form of papal writing.
Calling nature a “sacred gift from the creator,” the pope urged people to take the side of the “victims of environmental and climatic injustice”.
He called for an end to “the senseless war on our common home, it is a terrible world war”.
Francis said the new document would be an Apostolic Exhortation, another form of papal writing.