Pope: on 4 October a second Laudato Sì against 'the world war at the common home'

The pontiff's announcement today at the end of the general audience: a new exhortation on the feast of Saint Francis. “Let us stand alongside the victims of environmental and climate injustices”. In catechesis, the missionary example of Kateri Tekakwitha, the first native North American saint.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - On October 4, on the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi and on the day of the opening of the Synodal Assembly in the Vatican, Pope Francis will publish an apostolic exhortation on the care of creation, "a second Laudato Sì".

The date for the release of the document - which he himself had already mentioned a few days ago in an audience with a delegation of lawyers from member countries of the Council of Europe - was announced by the pontiff himself today, at the end of the general audience on Wednesday, held in the Paul VI hall.

“The day after tomorrow, 1 September, the world day of prayer for the care of creation is celebrated - said Francis - inaugurating the season of creation which will last until 4 October, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. On that date I intend to publish an exhortation, a second Laudato si' (his encyclical on "care for our common home", released on June 18, 2015 ed).

“Let us join our Christian brothers and sisters - added the Pope - in the commitment to safeguard creation as a sacred gift of the creator. It is necessary to stand with the victims of environmental and climate injustices in efforts to end the senseless war on our common home, which is a terrible world war. I urge all of you to work and pray so that it abounds with life again."

Previously, Pope Francis had continued his catechesis on some great witnesses of apostolic zeal in evangelization, focusing on the figure of Kateri Tekakwitha, the first native North American saint. She was born about the year 1656 in a village in upstate New York, she was the daughter of an unbaptized Mohawk chief and an Algonquian Christian mother, who taught Kateri to pray.

“Evangelization often begins with simple, small gestures, such as parents who help their children learn to speak to God in prayer and who tell them of her great and merciful love for her,” the pope commented. And the foundations of faith for Kateri, and often for us too, were laid in this way. She had received it from her mother in dialect, the dialect of faith."

Of the saint of the natives, the pontiff recalled the many difficulties she had to face: the smallpox epidemic that left marks on her body, the hostility and open persecution after her baptism.

“All of this – she commented – gave Kateri a great love for the cross, the definitive sign of the love of Christ, who gave himself up to the end for us. The testimony of the Gospel, in fact, does not only concern what is pleasant; we must also know how to carry our daily crosses with patience, trust and hope. Patience, in the face of difficulties, of crosses: patience is a great Christian virtue. Anyone who has no patience is not a good Christian".

Forced to take refuge among the Mohawks in the Jesuit mission near the city of Montreal, she impressed everyone by her prayer life, animated by a deep love for God, and by the example of service in caring for children, the sick and of the elderly. serve. Although she was encouraged to marry, Kateri instead wanted to completely dedicate her life to Christ. Unable to enter consecrated life, she took a vow of perpetual virginity on March 25, 1679.

"This choice of hers - the pope added - reveals another aspect of apostolic zeal: total dedication to the Lord. Of course, not everyone is called to make the same vow as Kateri; however - he concluded - every Christian is called every day to commit himself with an undivided heart to the vocation and mission entrusted to him by God, serving him and his neighbor in a spirit of charity".

Finally, in greetings to the groups present, Pope Francis once again asked the faithful to accompany him in prayer during his apostolic journey to Mongolia, which begins tomorrow. And he also renewed the invitation to closeness and prayer "for the dear and tormented Ukraine, so experienced by great suffering".