(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 05.06.2025).- On May 30, for the first time, the Order of Franciscan Friars Minor awarded the Laudato Si’ Award to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, to former priest Leonardo Boff, to the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM) and to the Laudato Si’ Movement.
The Pontifical Antonianum University of the Order of Franciscan Friars Minor granted the Prize in keeping with the Franciscan tradition of promoting ecology and recognizing individuals or organizations that promote the integral care of nature, a value instilled by Saint Francis in the 13th century and in accordance with the doctrine of Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si’.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople received the award for his great dedication to the service of ecology. In his speech, he emphasized that the recognition is not only his, but that of the entire Church of Constantinople.
He recalled that since the 1980s, Orthodox Christianity has denounced the growing climate crisis: «Faced with the deterioration of the environment, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with the famous 1989 Encyclical of Patriarch Demetrius,» highlighted the passage where it stated that «today we are witnessing the violation of nature, which is abused to satisfy not essential human needs, but the ever-increasing desires of humanity, animated by the dominant philosophy of the consumer society.»
He also highlighted the progress in ecumenical relations, due to the Catholic Church’s adoption of the World Day of Prayer for Creation, which the Orthodox Church celebrates every September 1. He also underscored the great inspiration of Pope Francis with the Encyclical Laudato Si’.
He forcefully expressed the importance of caring for Creation: «If there is no true conversion of humankind, the ecological problem cannot be resolved. Any human action that harms the environment must be considered a grave sin.»
Former priest Leonardo Boff received the award and noted that «the great challenge is to move from the mentality of ‘masters and owners’ who exploit nature to the point of exhaustion, to that of ‘brothers and sisters’ who treat each other and all of Creation as relatives. Care is the Christian caress that extends to all beings in nature.»
The Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM) was recognized for its tireless work in defense of nature and human rights in the Amazon region, which is comprised of nine countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, British Guiana, French Guiana, Peru, Surinam, and Venezuela. On its behalf, Monsignor Rafael Cob Garcia, Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Puyo in Ecuador, accepted the diploma. He related ecology to the Jubilee Year: «Let us walk as Pilgrims of Hope toward that paradise that God promises us.»
The award for the Laudato Si’ Movement was accepted by its Executive Director, Lorna Gold, a founding member of the Movement and a participant in all its organizational processes, where she has worked for 20 years for social and ecological justice. She stated that «we are facing an ecological tipping point that has become a widespread crisis of conscience. Therefore, as people of faith, we must unite to transform this dark moment into a Kairós.»
The awards ceremony was timed to coincide with the eighth centenary of the Canticle of the Creatures written by St. Francis, the tenth anniversary of the Encyclical Laudato Si’, and the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea.
Friar Massimo Fusarelli, Minister General of the Franciscan Order, said: «The awards we are presenting today are not mere recognitions, but symbols of a universal call to ecological conversion. Each awardee represents a unique dimension of this commitment to recognize all Creation as a gift from God and to praise Him together with all creatures.»
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