Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ Sparks Ecological Awakening in European Catholic Organizations

Verghese V Joseph –

In a groundbreaking study to evaluate the impact of Pope Francis’ encyclical on Catholic environmental efforts across Europe, the Living Laudato Si’ European Survey, a first-of-its-kind initiative, was conducted by the European Laudato Si’ Alliance (ELSiA) in late 2023, aimed to evaluate the impact of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ on ecological efforts by Catholic groups across Europe.

Led by St Mary’s University and involving a consortium of five universities, the survey analyzed responses from over 283 Catholic organizations in 20 European countries. Here are the key findings from the survey:

• Laudato Si’ had a significant impact, with 95% of the responding European Catholic organizations influenced by the encyclical, leading to major changes in 36% of them.
• Nearly half of the organizations expressed their commitment to maintaining or increasing their focus on “integral ecology.”
• There is a noticeable shift towards community involvement in Laudato Si’ initiatives, with 60% embracing a participatory approach.
• Collaboration is encouraged, as a large majority of organizations work with both faith-based (82%) and non-faith-based groups (81%) on ecological issues.
• Grassroots involvement is prominent, with 93% of initiatives relying on volunteers, and 37% entirely driven by them.
• Limited resources remain a challenge, with 38% of organizations allocating less than 5% of their resources to environmental initiatives.

The report recommends providing increased support to Catholic organizations by offering more time and resources, fostering discussions on ecology, and equipping them with practical tools for effective environmental action. It also highlights successful ecological projects across Europe as models for replication.

Mgr Crociata, President of COMECE, emphasized the vitality of the ecological message from Laudato Si across 20 European countries, especially in light of recent environmental challenges faced by communities in Kenya and Brazil. “In these days where floods hit our brothers in Kenya and Brazil, this first study on Catholics and ecology shows that, in 20 European countries, the ecological message coming from Laudato Si is alive and flourishing,” he said.

Dr. Roland Daw, the Lead Investigator, highlighted the collaborative nature of Catholic environmental action in Europe but raised questions about the sufficiency of resources. “This exploratory work shows that there are many Catholic organisations across Europe that have made Laudato Si’ an important part of their work, and suggests that where this work is happening, it is distinctly collaborative. However, the findings leave us with some questions, particularly about whether Catholic environmental action is getting all the resources it needs,” he remarked.

Laura Morosini, European Programme Director of the Laudato Si’ Movement, expressed the report’s confirmation of the profound impact of Laudato Si’ on Catholic initiatives, She stated, “This report confirms the intuition of the radical impact of the encyclical Laudato Si’ on Catholic initiatives. We found that the Season of Creation is a well-established initiative, already celebrated by ⅔ of the respondents. Something new is happening in the Church”.

Laura noted the widespread celebration of the Season of Creation by two-thirds of the respondents, indicating a significant shift within the Church towards environmental consciousness.

The survey findings were presented during a special ELSiA press conference on May 20th, 2024, as part of Laudato Si Week, and the video is available on Youtube (Laudato Si Movement) and the ELSiA website.