Pope Francis: a Prophetic Testament of Green Legacy
On April 21, 2025, a day after celebrating Easter Sunday, Pope Francis was called to heaven. His passing also coincided with the eve of Earth Day, as if the Spirit had sealed with symbolic force the legacy of someone who made ecology and theology one of the central pillars of his pontificate. His famous papal encyclical Laudato Si’ was not merely an ecological text but a theological, pastoral, and ethical program for a comprehensive Christian stewardship.
Inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis invited us to view creation as both sister and mother. He taught us that caring for the earth is an act of faith, and that the Gospel of Christ is also embodied in the way we treat the planet and all who inhabit it. “Everything is connected,” he repeated time and again, reminding us that the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are one single voice pleading for justice.
Pope Francis prophetically denounced the culture of destruction and development and called us to an ecological conversion. He proposed an integral ecology that encompasses economics, politics, social relationships, and spiritual life. He urged us to move from irresponsible consumption to communal care, from domination to service. His call was neither technical nor ideological, but deeply evangelical: hope becomes practical when we understand that the world is not an object to exploit but a mystery to contemplate.
In this Easter season, as we celebrate life triumphing over death, Pope Francis’ death challenges us to live the resurrection through an ecological lens. As a believer and a pastor, I cannot help but see in Laudato Si’ an echo of the Sermon on the Mountain—a new beatitude for our time: “Blessed are those who care for our common home, for theirs will be the future.”
From our faith communities—Catholic, Protestant, and from all spiritual traditions and ethical convictions—we are called to embrace this encyclical as a pastoral roadmap and an inescapable public and private commitment. It is not enough to read it; we must live it: recycling, reducing consumption, defending natural resources, and nurturing a spirituality that embraces the earth as a sacrament of communion. It is about integrating contemplation and action, prayer and transformation, because a theology committed to justice, as liberation theologian Leonardo Boff reminded us, cannot ignore the cry of the earth nor the fate of those impoverished by the climate crisis.[1]
Today, more than paying tribute, we are called to embody his way of living Christianity—with a faith marked by simplicity, courage, and profound solidarity. Our brother Jorge Mario Bergoglio followed Christ’s model through a life of embodiment, courage, and deep compassion. As stewards of our common home, it is now our task to make Laudato Si’ a daily practice, an embodied spirituality, and a living commitment, so that his legacy does not die with him but blossoms with Easter hope in every act of care and every communal decision that prioritizes life, justice, and reconciliation with creation.
[1] Leonardo Boff, Ecología: Grito de La Tierra, Grito de Los Pobres (Madrid, España: Editorial Trotta, 1996).
