The CF – Campanha da Fraternidade (“Solidarity Campaign”) has already become a well-known tradition in Brazil. Created by Bishop Eugênio Salles in the archdiocese of Natal, in the northeast of Brazil, during Lent 1962, it spread throughout the Northeast Region in 1963 and became a national campaign thanks to the initiative of Bishop Helder Câmara, then secretary general of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB, as per its acronym in Portuguese), in Lent 1964.
Since then, the Campaign has annually put on the agenda a current topic that calls for the personal, community-ecclesial, and social conversion of Christians and all people of good will in Brazilian society.
Gathered at the Episcopal Pastoral Council in the beginning of 2023, the bishops that form the Council chose for the 2025 Campaign the theme proposed by the Special Episcopal Commission for Integral Ecology and Mining: Solidarity and Integral Ecology. Its motto: “God saw that everything was very good!” (Gen 1:31). The general objective of the campaign is to promote, in the Lenten spirit and in times of urgent socio-environmental crisis, a process of integral conversion, listening to the cry of the poor and the cry of the Earth.
The main motivations presented by the commission and encompassed by the Council are the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the publication of the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, the publication of the Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, both by Pope Francis; the celebration of the 800th anniversary of the authoring of the Canticle of the Creatures by Saint Francis of Assisi; and the socio-ecclesial mobilization for participation at COP 30 in Brazil, in November 2025, in the city Belém, in the heart of the Amazon.
From September 26 to 29, around 100 Campaign organizers and animators of the 19 episcopal regions, representatives of the so-called “Organizations of the People of God in Brazil”, and partner organizations met in the city of Brasília for the CF 2025 National Seminar.
On the occasion, participants deepened their knowledge of the Campaign’s Basic Document, a reflection that underpins all the actions proposed for Lent 2025 (available in Portuguese here), shared experiences and ideas, and participated in the launch of three partnerships aimed at better preparing and mobilizing for CF 2025:
- The 10th Edition of Casa Comum (“Common Home”) Magazine, on Integral Ecology (digital format available in Portuguese here)
- Joint Task Force in defense of our Common Home: an experience of seven conversation circles in a digital environment, supported by the contents of the Basic Document and the 10th Edition of Casa Comum Magazine, to motivate and train community leaders for CF 2025 (registration here) and
- Online course on Integral Ecology on the “Farol 1817” website, offered by the Marist family of Brazil.
As a partner of CF 2025 and its initiatives, the Laudato Si’ Movement was represented by Igor Bastos, Senior Manager for Iberoamerica, who also collaborated in writing the Basic Document.
We invite all members of the Laudato Si’ Movement to join this great initiative to celebrate 10 years of the encyclical and ecological conversion, towards an Integral Ecology that will enable the continuity of life on Earth, according to God’s will.
Fr. Jean Poul Hansen
Executive Secretary for Campaigns
National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB)