The Secretary for the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development invites all to participate in “The time of creation”

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has sent a letter to priests all around the world inviting them to prepare for the Time of Creation, a global ecumenical initiative of prayer and action to protect our common home.

The letter encourages priests to celebrate the Time of Creation and includes an invitation from the Dicastery, the World Catholic Movement for Climate and the Pan-Amazon Ecclesial Network, to Catholic communities, with ideas for celebration, such as the incorporation of the care of creation in the liturgy, pastoral formation that promotes integral ecology, and participation in mobilization.

During the Time of Creation (1 September to 4 October 2019), Christians from the six continents will work to put Laudato si’ into practice. They will participate in community events to deepen their love for the Creator, for creation and for others. The events will vary according to each community, from worship services and prayer, to picking up trash or actions asking for changes in policies to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

These celebrations will be integrated into the annual calendar of parishes and dioceses around the world. Many parishes are planning their events now, and the letter to parish priests and the invitation to Catholic communities are intended to encourage them to organize events. More information about the events can be found on the Time of Creation website, SeasonofCreation.org.

An ecumenical steering committee will suggest a theme for each year's celebration. The theme for 2019 is “The Network of Life”, a theme that reflects both our role as stewards of creation, and the urgent need to protect the rich tapestry of biodiversity woven by the Creator. The loss of species is accelerating, and a recent report by the United Nations estimates that our way of life threatens the extinction of a million species. That is, approximately one in every nine species on Earth.

The invitation to Catholic communities describes in more detail the connection between this theme and the next Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, which will focus on the application of an integral ecology. The synod begins on October 6, just after the end of the Time of Creation.

Presentation of the Video-Catechism of the Catholic Church

This coming Monday 24 June, at the Vatican Film Library, the Video-Catechism of the Catholic Church will be presented. It is a monumental work, which began during the pontificate of Pope Francis and developed from an idea of Don Giuseppe Costa, former director of the Vatican Publishing House, and the director Gjon Kolndrekaj.

Filming required more than five years of work in 70 countries, in a total of 16,000 places. Divided into 46 chapters, each lasting half an hour, it involved the participation of more than 60,000 people, of whom three thousand, from two hundred professions and diverse fields, read the texts of the Catechism in 37 languages, while 2,600 actors interpret the characters narrated in the reconstruction of the biblical stories of the Old and the New Testament under the direction of Gjon Kolndrekaj, author of, among others, the documentary “Matteo Ricci. A Jesuit in the kingdom of the dragon”.

The prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Paolo Ruffini, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization and Fra 'Giulio Cesareo, editorial manager of the Vatican Publishing House, will speak at the presentation. The moderator will be Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication.

The Pope to conclude the congress “Theology after Veritatis Gaudium in the context of the Mediterranean”, in Naples

The Faculty of Theology of Southern Italy (Section San Luigi), based in Naples, will be the venue of the congress “Theology after Veritatis Gaudium in the context of the Mediterranean”, to be held from 20 to 21 June. As suggested by its title, it will focus on the Apostolic Constitution on ecclesiastical universities and faculties, issued by the Holy Father last January.

On “the joy of truth” in the context of the Mare Nostrum, here and now, theologians and professors from various universities – Naples, Bologna, Comillas (Madrid), and Jerusalem – will discuss topics such as migrations, interculturality, art as a locus for encounter and dialogue, interreligious dialogue and discernment as a method of resolving antithetical tensions.

Pope Francis will close the work of the conference on Friday 21, with an address and a blessing to all the participants.