In May, Pope Francis released his historic encyclical, Laudatio Si, or "Praise Be." He chose his papal name, he explains in the text, because he considers St. Francis of Assisi to be "the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically." His namesake showed that concern for nature is inseparable from justice for the poor, social commitment, and peace within oneself.
The encyclical's title refers to the Canticle of the Sun, St. Francis's song of praise to God for all creation — the foremost expression of environmental holism within the Roman Catholic tradition. Yet the Canticle's praise for "Brother Sun" and "Sister Moon" has seemed so close to nature-worship that some have doubted whether it could ever be included in mainstream Catholic thinking.
Those doubts have now been laid to rest. Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, began to turn the Church's attention toward the need for environmental sustainability. Francis has taken this process much further.