A new round of graduation of Laudato Si’ Animators left us happy and full of enthusiasm. Young people and adults from different countries completed, during the first semester, the 2-month training that prepared them as leaders for the care of creation.

In Spanish, English, Portuguese and Italian, the 2169 new animators celebrated, each in their own language, a graduation day in which they were highlighted for their final works.

More than 1,100 animators graduated in Latin America and Spain, a record-breaking number for this cycle. In Africa there were 163, in Italy 775 and 293 in Portuguese.

Graduation of Portuguese-speaking animators

The animators’ course was a very nourishing experience in which I was able to acquire solid knowledge about the impact of human activity on planet earth“, said Jose Luis Araujo, from Venezuela. 

Learning about the encyclical Laudato Si’ and the different alternatives to face the ecological crisis and the climate emergency are the main topics covered in the animators’ course.

For Mariano San Zacarias, from Argentina, the course brought him new knowledge concerning integral ecology: “It moves us to question ourselves in our way of living in relation to the environment and the living communities,” he shared. It also encouraged him to a new way of life, and he dreams of “replicating in my community this way of relating to the creation and to our poorest brothers and sisters”.

Upon completion of the course, each animator is able to lead a local group and instruct their communities on creation care. Would you like to join this mission? “Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation”, Pope Francis tells us in Laudato Si’ (LS, 14).