Pope Francis, Laudato Si', and the Movement He Helped Shape
- Faith in Place
- Apr 21
- 2 min read
Pope Francis died today.
And I’m sitting with the weight of it.
His voice has echoed across continents, through sanctuaries and mosques and temples, into the hearts of organizers, elders, and young people—many of whom have never stepped foot inside a House of Worship. In 2015, when he released Laudato Si’, something shifted.
At Faith in Place, we felt it in real time. Suddenly, the work we had been doing at the intersection of faith, climate, and justice was not just fringe or niche. It was central. Respected. Quoted in the New York Times, I said then what I still believe now: his call to action, his naming of “integral ecology,” gave us language for what many of us already knew in our bones.
Everything is connected.
The cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor are one.
Laudato Si’ helped the broader community of environmental activists and donors see us and our work more clearly. And it gave people of many faiths permission to raise their voices louder—for trees and rivers, yes, but also for jobs, for food, for dignity, for communities long cast aside.
At the time, we responded then with a chorus of amens—from imams, rabbis, pastors, and elders from diverse spiritualities. And I hear that chorus still, reverberating across time.
Pope Francis was a Catholic leader. But his legacy is the way he shaped communities of diverse spiritualities and faith.
And it’s still unfolding.
In you. In me. In all of us.
So we gather.
Join me Thursday evening for our Earth Vigil, where we will grieve, remember, and recommit. We’ll offer prayers. Share silence. And keep alive the vision that Pope Francis named so clearly—that our lives are integrated in ecology — sacred, and holy.
🗓️ Thursday, April 24
🕯️ 6 p.m - 7 p.m CT/ 7 p.m - 8 p.m ET
With gratitude for this shared path,
Rev. Brian Sauder
President and CEO, Faith in Place
