The Holy Father encouraged silent contemplation of the wonders and harmony of the created world, which can lead to authentic ecological conversion and awareness of our responsibility for creation.
Pope Leo XIV invited people to take time out from the daily bustle of their lives to listen to “the melodious voice of creation,” through which God speaks, as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation is observed on Sept. 1.
The Holy Father noted that this day also marks the beginning of the “Season of Creation,” a five-week period dedicated “to prayer and commitment to caring for our ‘common home’” that extends until Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, coinciding with the 800th anniversary of his death.
“On this day, therefore, and in the weeks ahead, let us set aside a few moments to pause from the frenzy of our daily lives in order to savor the profound harmony of which we ourselves are a part,” the Pope encouraged during the Mass celebrated in the Madonnina Garden of the Borgo Laudato Si’ within the pontifical gardens of Castel Gandolfo.
