- Laudato Si’ Awards Ceremony was held this Friday at the Pontifical Antonianum University.
- Celebration marks 800 Years since the Canticle of the Creatures and the 10th Anniversary of Pope Francis’ Encyclical on climate.
Rome, May 30, 2025 – The Order of Friars Minor (OFM), in collaboration with the Pontifical Antonianum University, held the Laudato Si’ Awards ceremony this Friday, May 30, commemorating two significant milestones: the 800th anniversary of The Canticle of the Creatures by St. Francis of Assisi and the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical on climate and care for creation.
This year’s recipients of the Laudato Si’ Award were:
- His Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, for his prophetic voice in defense of creation as an expression of Christian ecumenism;
- Theologian Leonardo Boff, for his work linking social justice with environmental justice;
- The Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM), represented by its president, Bishop Rafael Cob García, for defending the Amazonian peoples and preserving the ancestral wisdom that safeguards the lungs of the Earth;
- The Laudato Si’ Movement, represented by its executive director, Dr. Lorna Gold, for translating Pope Francis’ encyclical message into concrete action in communities across the globe.
“These awards are not mere acknowledgments, but symbols of a universal call to ecological conversion,” said the Minister General of the Order, Fr. Massimo Fusarelli. He emphasized that the celebration not only honors two key moments in Franciscan spirituality and the Church’s social teaching, but also seeks to recognize individuals and institutions that embody the vision of integral ecology. “Each honoree represents a unique dimension of this commitment.”
Fusarelli also urged people to “recognize all of creation as a gift from God and to praise Him alongside all creatures,” reminding the audience that the current ecological crisis is also spiritual and anthropological—one that calls for an integral response: conversion of the heart, changes in lifestyle, and transformation of social and economic structures.
“Any human action that harms the environment must be considered a grave sin,” declared Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, firmly convinced that “without true human conversion, the ecological crisis cannot be resolved.”
“The early Church clearly understood the importance of humanity’s relationship with creation and everything within it, as revealed in Sacred Scripture,” Bartholomew noted in his speech. “Yet throughout history, humanity—and at times even the churches—have failed to grasp the intrinsic and ever-present relationship between the Creator, creation, and all created beings.”
For Bartholomew, the root of the problem lies “in today’s economic orientation, which seeks to maximize profit without allowing nature to regenerate—reducing care for our common home to a mere ideology within ecological movements.”
Theologian Leonardo Boff added that “the great challenge is to shift from being ‘lords and masters’ who dominate and exploit nature, to becoming ‘brothers and sisters’ who treat each other—and all of creation—as kin.”
Bishop Rafael Cob García, who accepted the award on behalf of REPAM, invited all, in this Jubilee Year, “to walk as pilgrims of hope toward the paradise God has promised us.”
Representing the Laudato Si’ Movement, Lorna Gold stated, “The Laudato Si’ Movement is a miracle of the Holy Spirit in the Church and today’s world.” She humbly added, “I am not here because of my own merits, but because the Spirit has touched the hearts of millions worldwide to hear the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.”
“We are standing at an ecological tipping point that has become a widespread crisis of conscience,” Gold concluded. “That’s why, as people of faith, we must unite to transform this dark moment into a Kairos—a time of grace.”
Watch the full broadcast of the Laudato Si’ Awards here:
For more info:
pax@ofm.org
