Ten Years of Integral Ecology

Abstract

This article locates Laudato Si´ within the Catholic tradition of papal teaching by encyclical letters. It identifies
some characteristic aspects of the encyclical which set it apart from its predecessors. In particular, the way in which the encyclical
utilises contemporary secular environmental and social sciences lends it authoritative status as part of the social teaching of the Church. The article examines how people around the world have responded to the encyclical’s call to action, the encyclical’s limited specific concern for Africa, ecological developments in the intervening ten years since its publication, and the reasons for Pope Francis’ follow-up exhortation Laudate Deum. The article concludes with a word of caution from Pope Francis about declarationist nominalism.