A global journey through Dilexit Nos and why it matters for the care of creation
What does the Sacred Heart of Jesus have to do with integral ecology and care of our Common Home?
Across five countries in Europe, the Laudato Si’ Movement and its partners are weaving together the connection between returning to the heart and turning toward creation with love, justice, and action. Today more than ever, we have to answer to the message of the Sacred Heart and let God’s love transform our hearts : “for it is by drinking of that same love that we become capable of forging bonds of fraternity, of recognizing the dignity of each human being, and of working together to care for our common home.” (DN 217).
LSM is currently in deep conversation with Catholic partners across Europe — the Emmanuel Community in France, Comunione e Liberazione in Italy, and faith communities in Poland and Ireland — all united around one question: What does Pope Francis’ Encyclical Dilexit Nos mean for us, and for our common home?
They’re practical, prayerful, grassroots gatherings happening in schools, parishes, and communities.
In France, LSM is collaborating with the Emmanuel Community, bringing together spirituality and ecology in a shared exploration of the exhortation’s call to love, to offer a journey to be lived in parishes.
In Poland, the work is reaching into schools and parishes, where the Ecological Examen of Consciousness is being offered as a daily spiritual practice — a simple but transformative tool that helps people notice, name, and respond to how they relate to creation.
In Italy, the dialogue with Comunione e Liberazione is opening new spaces of relationships inspired by Laudato Si’ and by the great encyclical of the bleeding heart of Jesus. Thanks to the testimony of Luca Doninelli (author and writer, professor of writing for art, theatre and cinema at IULM University), , in particular on LS words: “Rather than a problem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and praise.” (LS 12), citing important poets and authors, declined the reflection on various aspects, including the importance of community and of supporting one another together.
And in Ireland, Laudato Si’ Animators have been gathering around a series of reflections on Dilexit Nos, which will culminate in a practical tool for parishes — a resource designed to help communities move from reflection to response.
All of this work is converging into something larger: a shared resource, a multimedia toolkit, — shaped by the wisdom of multiple communities, cultures and languages — to be sent through LSM networks and partner channels for use in parishes and faith communities in Europe and worldwide.
The guide will take participants on a journey through Dilexit Nos, drawing out the threads that connect the love of the Sacred Heart to the Church’s social teaching, to Laudato Si’, and to the urgent call to go to the roots of integral ecology. It’s not an academic document but a pastoral companion.
“It is only by starting from the heart that our communities will succeed in uniting and reconciling differing minds and wills, so that the Spirit can guide us in unity as brothers and sisters. Reconciliation and peace are also born of the heart. (…) In that heart, we learn to relate to one another in wholesome and happy ways, and to build up in this world God’s kingdom of love and justice. Our hearts, united with the heart of Christ, are capable of working this social miracle” (DN 28).
This resource arrives as a direct follow-up to the Lenten journey, whose theme is “Return to the Heart.” As Pope Leo has reminded us, speaking at the 10th-anniversary conference of Laudato Si’ in October 2025: it is only by returning to the heart that a true ecological conversion can take place.
“Love for our brothers and sisters is not simply the fruit of our own efforts; it demands the transformation of our selfish hearts” DN168.
The Sacred Heart, understood in this light, is a compass — pointing us toward the poor, toward the suffering Earth, toward a way of living that the world desperately needs.
The guide being developed is not just a reading resource. It is designed to create moments — in parishes, in small groups, in retreat settings — where:
- The love of the Sacred Heart becomes a source of motivation for care of creation
- The links between Dilexit Nos, Laudato Si’, and Catholic Social Teaching become visible and tangible
- Communities can move from being moved to taking action — for creation and for those most vulnerable
“For it is by drinking of that same love that we become capable of forging bonds of fraternity, of recognizing the dignity of each human being, and of working together to care for our common home” DN 217.
Coming Soon
The full resource, an online kit for parishes and faith communities, will be available through LSM’s networks and partner channels. It’s the fruit of a journey and a broader dialogue on Dilexit nos and Laudato Si’ promoted by the Laudato Si’ Movement in Europe with Catholic organizations (such as religious congregations, missionary families, Catholic universities, and movements).