Action of the month:
Pray for the Church and the soul of Pope Francis

On April 21, Pope Francis journeyed back to God between Easter Sunday and Earth Day at the age of 88. His papacy’s foundation was caring for the poor, the marginalized, and creation. The Covenant honored Pope Francis in a statement, which you can read here.

This week, as Cardinals throughout the world gather in Rome to choose the next leader of the Church, pray that they are filled with the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Additionally, pray for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis, whose leadership was characterized by transformational joy and affirming gratitude in a world that is very much in need of both.

Here is a prayer from our friends at Catholic Relief Services for Pope Francis: “We pray for the repose of Pope Francis' soul and that he is welcomed into the loving arms of the Lord God. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.”

Here is a prayer from our friends, the Sisters of Mercy, for a successful and fruitful Conclave: 

Catholic Climate Covenant Updates

Join the journey with Pilgrims of Hope for Creation!

As we celebrate the Jubilee of Hope, the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’, and the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures, we hear a Spirit-filled call to renew our relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation.

To mark this holy season, Catholic organizations across the United States are uniting to support pilgrims like you in planning or joining a Jubilee pilgrimage during the Season of Creation, taking place from September 1-October 4, 2025. The Covenant and 18 other U.S. Catholic organizations have successfully launched Pilgrims of Hope for Creation.

Here are some follow-up actions you can take to make sure you don’t miss all the fun!

1. Register your pilgrimage here. 

2. Subscribe to the Pilgrims of Hope for Creation mailing list to receive updates and resources and connect with other pilgrims in your area here. 

3. Sign up for our pilgrimage planning webinar series here. 

Join our Encounter campaign

Join our Encounter for Our Common Home campaign and advocate for climate with your fellow Catholics. We meet virtually on the last Wednesday of the month at 11:00 a.m.- noon (EST). Join the network, receive policy updates and briefings, and make a difference! Sign up to join Encounter here.

Check out these new resources

The Covenant wants to make sure you have all of the resources and tools you need to care for creation. Check out this papal encyclical resource by Marcus Mescher, and several resources from Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima’s recent speech at the Catholic Social Ministries Gathering.

Homily Helps: Resources for sharing the rich insights of creation care at Mass 

Catholic Climate Covenant and the Integral Faith team of the Association of United States Catholic Priests provide resources for homilists that will help you integrate the rich insights of Laudato Si’ and Christian care for creation into Sunday Mass. These include highlights from the scriptures, readings of the day, relevant quotations from Laudato Si’, brief commentary, illustrations and anecdotes, sample applications, and sample petitions. You can subscribe to receive the Homily Helps every month here. 

Season of Creation resources

The theme for this year’s Season of Creation (Sept. 1st- Oct. 4th) is “Peace with Creation.” Check out resources the Covenant has already begun compiling here. You can also receive updates from the ecumenical group organizing the Season of Creation here.

LSAP-enrolled dioceses 

So far, 27 U.S. dioceses have enrolled and agreed to be public in the Laudato Si’ Action Platform (LSAP) and committed to a seven-year sustainability journey. You can check which dioceses have enrolled here. 

Nominate a Catholic who cares for creation for this blog series

There’s enough bad news in the world — so help us spread good news instead! We’ve created this nomination form to help you recognize Catholics in your community who embrace caring for creation and tending to the environment around them. Nominated Catholics may be featured in a blog post on Catholic Climate Covenant’s website. 

Take the Laudato Si’ Reading Challenge

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’: On Care For Our Common Home, Laudato Si’ Movement Texas has started a free program to encourage people to read Laudato Si’ over the summer. This program is open to all people in North America. There is no cost. Access the encyclical for free online.

USCCB materials and resources

As we remember and celebrate Pope Francis’ legacy, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has shared several new and existing resources from the Secretariat of Justice and Peace to supplement the USCCB’s more general Memoriam materials. The Secretariat of Justice and Peace has created a Pope Francis Resources and Prayers webpage with materials related to his justice-themed encyclicals and original prayers inspired by the Holy Father’s words and witness. Additionally, the USCCB has created a Dilexit Nos subpage, which includes three new prayer reflection resources on the encyclical, along with the recording of a recent webinar with Bishop Flores. Most of the written resources are available in Spanish, and the Dilexit Nos reflections will be translated soon. 

Now hiring

Our friends at Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life have a few job openings. Read more about the Projects Coordinator position and the Program Officer position now. 

Essay contest

The National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue (NCMD) of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) has announced the Covenant with Earth research paper and essay competition that explores the topics and concerns raised in Laudato Si’: Care of our Common Home and Al-Mizan: Covenant for the Earth. The NCMD invites high schoolers, undergraduate students, and graduate students to share their perspective on Catholic and Muslim responses to the ecological crisis and pathways of thought and action toward care for the earth. Read the rules and find the deadline and informational flyer here. 

Laudato Si’ celebration resources

The Ecological Conversion group, which was founded by three UK Catholic young adults to help the Church understand and respond to Laudato Si’, has created a unique resources page to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’ and the Jubilee Year. The Earth Day program can also be used to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Laudato Si’! For other Laudato Si’ anniversary information, visit Laudato Si’ Movement’s Laudato Si’ Week webpage.

Climate Action Now!

A generous donor flagged for us a phone app that encourages daily actions on behalf of our common home. Actions include reaching out to policymakers or learning something new about climate and environmental issues and solutions. We encourage you to check out the Climate Action Now app by searching for it in your device’s app store.

April's blog highlights

• Executive Orders vs. Catholic Social Teaching: With nearly two months spent in the White House, President Donald Trump has issued several executive orders and directives impacting the environment, climate change, fossil fuels, and environmental justice. To help you talk to other Catholics about this, we’ve written this blog comparing Executive Orders and Directives to Catholic Social Teaching. We’ll be updating this blog soon and turning it into a resource for you, so stay tuned!
• Love in Deed: Erin Lothes, theologian and a Visiting Scholar at Union Theological Seminary’s Center for Earth Ethics, writes about loving those on the margins impacted by climate change and the teachings of Pope Francis. 
• A New Kind of Fire: Kamila Chavez, a second-year student at Loyola University Chicago and guest writer for our friends at Focolare Media, explains in this blog how her Jesuit education sparked a love for creation care.

Don’t forget to read more stories and submit stories of your own on our God’s Planet website, which is an initiative of the Covenant. Join our new Substack for notifications and alerts every time a new blog, statement, or press release comes out.

Climate and Church News and Media Hits

Climate change, the Catholic Church, and the Covenant were popular in the media this month. 

• Covenant Executive Director Dan Misleh appeared on EWTN in April to discuss the implications of President Trump’s executive order on energy production. 
• Many Catholic media outlets are covering the 10-year anniversary of Laudato Si’. Catholic Review spoke with Dan about the celebration. “Obviously, there’s a lot of work to be done,” Dan said. “And I think we can do it — but there have to be commitments at many levels of the church to make that happen.” The story was also run by Detroit Catholic. 
• The Covenant held a conference in Louisiana this past month on the links between pollution and fetal and maternal health. Dan spoke with reporters at Clarion Herald, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Dan was surprised to hear about the lack of chemical emission monitoring around petrochemical facilities. “It’s important that we get this data out so that we can do a better job of protecting human health,” Dan said. The story was also run in Catholic Review. 
• Several publications and media outlets covered the death of Pope Francis and reached out to the Covenant for comment. The New York Times, Inside Climate News, Common Dreams, National Catholic Reporter’s Earthbeat, People Daily, and Citizens’ Climate Lobby all spoke to Dan or mentioned the work of the Covenant while reflecting on Pope Francis’ legacy.  
• Dan also had a powerful op-ed published in National Catholic Reporter’s Earthbeat. “For me, the core of Francis' argument to be better caretakers of our common home is integral ecology,” Dan wrote. “Through Francis, I pray we wake up and recognize that the home we are destroying will destroy us.”
• Matthew Groves, who serves on the young adult advisory board for the Covenant, reflected on Pope Francis’ legacy and his conversion to the Catholic faith in this column published by National Catholic Reporter’s Earthbeat. 
• Kayla Jacobs, program manager of youth mobilization at the Covenant, also published a reflection in National Catholic Reporter’s Earthbeat on the importance of Laudato Si’ and Pope Francis’ example. 
• Our friends at Catholic TV released a “Green Goals” video for Earth Day and talked about the work of the Covenant! Be sure to give this video some love!
• Our friends at Focolare Media recently published a book in time for Laudato Si’ Week called What Does the Bible Say About Creation? Check it out now!
• Our friend Father John Grace at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Hampton, Virginia — who has worked closely with the Covenant over the years — was recently highlighted in Chesapeake Bay Magazine for his work on creation care and living Laudato Si’. 
• Catholic Health Association of the United States recently highlighted the work of the Covenant and Kayla Jacobs in an article on federal environmental policy changes. 
• Diana Marin, the program manager for young adult mobilization at the Covenant, was recently part of a panel at Georgetown University, connecting Laudato Si’, Teilhard de Chardin, and Catholic Social Teaching. You can watch that panel and find more information here. 
• Environment, a science and policy publication, created a special section to acknowledge the work of Pope Francis. You can browse that special section here. 
• An Atlanta op-ed co-signed by Bishop Joel M. Konzen on the importance of the Laudato Si’ Action Plan made the front page of the Atlanta Constitution-Journal and circulated throughout Atlanta media.
• The Record Newspaper in Central Kentucky published an article promoting an upcoming Laudato Si’ 10th anniversary event, with Covenant Executive Director Dan Misleh speaking at two of the programmatic talks in June.

Updates from the Interdiocesan Creation Care Network

The following are just a few of the highlights from the April 2025 reports submitted by members of the Interdiocesan Creation Care Network. The ICC network meets regularly to share information and offer support. 

• The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri is planning to do a letter-writing seminar in the spring of 2026 for all the diocese on how to contact and effectively dialogue with representatives, with plans to tie in relevant creation care state-level legislation items.
• The Archdiocese of Seattle recently hosted an Earth Day Summit on Saturday, April 26, on the campus of Seattle University, following the theme of Pilgrims of Hope for Creation. Dr. Robert Bullard, the father of environmental justice, was the keynote speaker. Youth from throughout the Archdiocese attended.
• St. Peter’s Parish in the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, hosted a presentation on April 8 to explore the link between faith and caring for God's creation, while also sharing scientific perspectives on climate change. The St. Therese Peace and Social Justice group in that diocese promoted Greener Lent and posted the amount of CO2 saved on Earth Day.
• The Diocese of Syracuse, New York, is continuing to regularly prepare and transmit the “Earth-Carers” e-newsletter throughout the diocese, with each issue having a primary focus. They held weekly, six-part virtual prayer discussions during Lent on the topics of purpose, attention, priorities, simplicity, discipline, and hope. The series was developed locally. They are also planning to offer a three-session virtual prayer-discussion learning about Laudato Si’ from late May to mid-June, also being developed locally.
• The Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, is planning a Laudato Si’ 10th anniversary event, with Covenant Executive Director Dan Misleh speaking at two of the programmatic talks in June. The Record Newspaper published an article promoting that event. 
• The Archdiocese of Atlanta recently had an op-ed published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and has been popular in the media since the death of Pope Francis because of their leadership in writing the first Laudato Si’ Action Plan for the nation. 
• The Diocese of Stockton, California, is developing curriculum for the Diocese-wide Laudato Si’ lesson plans. They met with the Church leadership, including the bishop, to review and adjust the materials based on their input. They also had four students, a teacher, and two staff members from the Environmental Justice Program attend the Laudato Si’ Youth Summit in Sacramento.

Upcoming events

• May 7: Conclave to elect new pope begins
• May 24: 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’
• May 24-31: Laudato Si’ Week

Are you planning an event themed around spirituality and creation care? If so, please share the news with others by adding it to our online calendar. It’s free and easy to use. Submit your event here, and see what other events are coming up.