As the Global Catholic Climate Movement became the Laudato Si’ Movement, congratulatory messages from Church leaders, longtime friends, and movement members poured in from across the globe. We can’t thank the countless people and institutions that have offered their well wishes enough for their kind words and motivating messages. Thank you! The rest of this year, we’ll be periodically highlighting these inspiring messages on this website and social media. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to see them all.
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To say the movement’s new name is to say a prayer, said Cardinal Michael Czerny, Under-secretary of the Section for Migrants of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, in a congratulatory message for Laudato Si’ Movement.
“GCCM used to have a kind of corporate name…. But as it has matured, its name has matured very profoundly. Because its name now is not a corporate label; it is a prayer,” Czerny said.
“For the Laudato Si’ Movement to name itself as a prayer is to tell the truth that we are not going to be able to implement the encyclical Laudato Si’, we’re not going to be able to care for our common home unless we do it together, as Fratelli Tutti teaches us, but also as whole persons, not only environmental persons but also spiritual persons.
“So when we name the movement now, every time we name it, we’re saying a prayer: Laudato Si’. Praised be the Creator. Praised be the Creator. May the Creator help us to be worthy, responsible, and caring creatures.”
You can read Cardinal Czerny’s complete remarks below.
WATCH: Cardinal Czerny congratulates Laudato Si’ Movement
Rev. Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam, Head of the Vatican’s Ecology and Creation Office, joined Cardinal Czerny in expressing praise for the new name, along with a number of other Church leaders. Laudato Si’ Movement is eternally grateful to all who have shared well wishes.
“What a beautiful name, Laudato Si’ Movement, which reveals your identity, what you are and your vocation, what you should be,” the Rev. Kureethadam said.
“We will be praying that you may be inspired by the vision of Laudato Si’ to take care of our common home, to listen to the cry of the Earth and of the poor, inflamed by the sense of justice but also by the theology and spirituality of this Gospel of Creation to build together a new economic, political order of solidarity and compassion.”
You can read the Rev. Kureethadam’s complete remarks below.
WATCH: The Rev. Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam congratulates Laudato Si’ Movement
Full text of Cardinal Czerny’s message for Laudato Si’ Movement
“Laudato Si’ Movement, first of all is a movement, as was GCCM. And the word movement is very important to get across the idea that we are not trying to build something stable; we’re trying to get going. We’re trying to move. We’re trying to get somewhere. We’re trying to improve.
“To tell you the truth, we’re trying to survive, as a human family and as a planetary home. So movement is very important.
“But the Laudato Si’ Movement, or even its predecessor, didn’t just start yesterday. It was born at Vatican II, and it represents not just Laudato Si’ but the whole movement, again movement, of the teaching of Pope Francis.
“Evangelii Gaudium, Laudato Si’, Querida Amazonia, and Fratelli Tutti. And I really hope and pray that all the members and participants and colleagues of the Laudato Si’ Movement will enrich themselves more and more with the full range of Pope Francis’ teaching rooted in Vatican II.
“And then I’m also and maybe most happy that this change has a very deep meaning. GCCM used to have a kind of corporate name. It told you, in let’s say kind of cool words, what it is, institutionally, what it is trying to do, institutionally.
“But as it has matured, its name has matured very profoundly. Because its name now is not a corporate label; it is a prayer.
“And for the Laudato Si’ Movement to name itself as a prayer is to tell the truth that we are not going to be able to implement the encyclical Laudato Si’, we’re not going to be able to care for our common home unless we do it together, as Fratelli Tutti teaches us, but also as whole persons, not only environmental persons but also spiritual persons.
“So when we name the movement now, every time we name it, we’re saying a prayer: Laudato Si’. Praised be the Creator. Praised be the Creator. May the Creator help us to be worthy, responsible, and caring creatures.
“And that great prayer is one that I would like to join you in offering on this most happy occasion. Laudato Si’ Movement, Laudato Si’.”
Full text of the Rev. Kureethadam’s message for Laudato Si’ Movement
“Hearty congratulations from the ecology sector of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development to the entire GCCM family as you become the Laudato Si’ Movement today.
“What a beautiful name, Laudato Si’ Movement, which reveals your identity, what you are and your vocation, what you should be. And we will be praying that you may be inspired by the vision of Laudato Si’ to take care of our common home, to listen to the cry of the Earth and of the poor, inflamed by the sense of justice but also by the theology and spirituality of this Gospel of Creation to build together a new economic, political order of solidarity and compassion.
“And for all this we need to be a movement of people, of communities and inspired, energized by the… Holy Spirit of God. So we thank you, we congratulate you, and we also thank the Divine Providence… that God has raised up the Laudato Si’ Movement. May you continue to flourish.”
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