Pope Francis Announces Day of "World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation"

Pope Francis visits the Typhoon Yolanda victims in in the Philippines on January 17, 2015. [SOURCE: Malacanang Photo Bureau]

BY ISN STAFF | August 11, 2015

ROME, ITALY – Building energy for his recent encyclical entitled Ladauto Si’, Pope Francis announced September 1st as a Catholic “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.” The announcement, includes an element of ecumenicalism, as recent announcement unites Catholics with the Orthodox Church which has been lifting up creation via prayer on September 1st since 1989.

In an announcement from Pope Francis, released by Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, he said the annual World Day of prayer for the Care of Creation offers an “opportunity to renew our personal participation in this vocation as custodians of creation, raising to God our thanks for the marvelous works that He has entrusted to our care, invoking his help for the protection of creation and his mercy for the sins committed against the world in which we live.”

Pope Francis also noted that the celebration of the day on the same date as the Orthodox Church will be a, “valuable opportunity to bear witness to our growing communion with our orthodox brothers [and sisters].”

The full statement from Cardinals Turkson and Koch can be found here.

News coverage of the announcement:
Pope designates Sept. 1 as World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation [National Catholic Reporter]
In ecumenical move, Pope Francis establishes World Day of Prayer for Creation [Catholic News Agency]
Pope Francis: Say a prayer for creation [MSNBC]