In the same speech to 200 university personnel, Francis reflected on what he has termed a throwaway culture, saying it reveals “a lack of education to use the things that remain, to remake them, to replace them in the order of the common use of things.”
He encouraged a “good use of nature,” including practical actions that can help the environment, such as the installation of solar panels.
The pope also noted how environmental degradation can lead to another kind of “degradation,” namely, in how we treat others, especially those who are already living with fewer resources.
Pope Francis announced last month he would be releasing a follow-up document to the 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’. He later said it would be published on Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
Oct. 4 is also the first day of a monthlong assembly for the Synod on Synodality and the conclusion of the Season of Creation, a Vatican-supported ecumenical initiative about caring for the environment.
Laudato Si’ is the second of three encyclicals published in Pope Francis’ pontificate thus far. It was released in June 2015.
