The fifth anniversary of the encyclical comes in the midst
of another watershed moment – a global pandemic –
and Laudato Si’s message is just as prophetic today as
it was in 2015. The encyclical can indeed provide the
moral and spiritual compass for the journey to create a
more caring, inclusive, peaceful and sustainable world.
We have, in fact, a unique opportunity to transform the
present groaning and travail into the birth pangs of a
new way of living together, bonded together in love,
compassion and solidarity, and a more harmonious
relationship with the natural world, our common home.
Truly, COVID-19 has made clear how deeply we are
all interconnected and interdependent. As we begin
to envision a post-COVID world, we need above all an
integral approach as “everything is closely interrelated and today’s problems call for a vision capable of taking into account every aspect of the global crisis” (LS, 137).