Earlier this month, Pope Francis released his apostolic exhortation, Laudate Deum, an update to his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, an unprecedented call for combating climate change. Pulte Core Affiliated Faculty Daniel C. Miller, associate professor of environmental policy in the Keough School, shares his insights on the Pope's exhortation:
Laudate Deum represents not just a forceful follow-up to Pope Francis’ more in-depth Laudato Si’, but an exhortation to all people of goodwill — not just Catholics — to act now to address global climate change and environmental destruction.
To stabilize the Earth’s climate and avoid the worst effects of climate change, we must rapidly and dramatically reduce our use of fossil fuels — coal, oil, and gas — which are by far the largest drivers of global climate change. Laudate Deum recognizes this in no uncertain terms. It explicitly calls out those who would deny climate change or delay progress.
The pope names names: especially fossil fuel interests, leaders who appear to be concerned but do not have the courage to effect substantial change, and the rich and powerful who show a callous indifference to climate impacts on the most vulnerable. He is also not afraid to challenge dismissive views in the Catholic Church. He joins young people, concerned citizens of all ages, and world leaders like António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, in speaking increasingly bluntly given the urgency of climate action.
The release of Laudate Deum is explicitly timed to influence negotiations at the U.N. climate summit (COP28) that begins this November in Dubai. Pope Francis asks participants to be "strategists capable of considering the Common Good and the future of their children, more than the short-term interests of certain countries or businesses."
Time will tell if world leaders can, as Pope Francis puts it, "demonstrate the nobility of politics and not its shame." It will be up to us — all of us, but especially those privileged by living in wealthy, industrialized countries that have done the most to cause the problem — to hold our leaders accountable. Laudate Deum provides inspiration to do so while also changing our own practices so that we are part of the solution.
Laudate Deum is a powerful affirmation that tackling climate change and caring for our common home cannot be sidelined as only an environmental issue but is rather a fundamentally human and social problem that we must collectively tackle. Here at Notre Dame, we are working to live this vision, which is part of the new University strategic plan and many ongoing efforts by faculty, staff, and students.