Pope Francis on the ‘ecological conversion’ that led him to ‘Laudato Si’



Pope Francis, speaking off the cuff to a group of French environmental activists in Rome on Thursday, gave the inside story of how he came to write “Laudato Si’,” his acclaimed encyclical. He described how he had pushed hard in the Vatican for its early publication, in June 2015, so that it would influence the United Nations–sponsored Paris Conference on Climate Change that was held at the end of that year.

The pope was greeting the French experts who had assisted the French Bishops’ Conference in its reflection on the themes of “Laudato Si’” when he described the encyclical’s origins. Among those at the Sept. 3 meeting was the actress Juliette Binoche and Archbishop Eric de Moulins Beaufort, president of the bishops’ conference, who took the initiative of asking for this meeting.

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