Like his predecessor Pope Francis, Pope Leo XIV has a vocal, defining focus on environmental stewardship — and he carried Francis’ legacy forward on Wednesday with the Catholic Church’s first-ever “green” Papal Mass.
In 2015, Francis published a groundbreaking papal encyclical, Laudato Si’, and his direct, unflinching approach to climate stewardship established a now-thriving movement within the Church.
Papal encyclicals are not solely a formal letter from a pope — they’re influential directives intended to guide Bishops and the Catholic world at large on matters of morality and worship, and they “carry significant doctrinal weight.”