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The climate is changing,
a matter of moral urgency.

How Catholics and other faith groups speak out and take action. Where ecological concerns and moral conviction meet, well that's our beat.

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Jeffie Hardin teaches gardening and farming techniques at a North Carolina Title I school. She and her husband, Chris Hardin, moved from the suburbs to a farm that eventually became both a source of food and a kind of informal classroom. (Courtesy of Chris Hardin)

Farming, faith and 'real synodality': How this Catholic couple lives Laudato Si'

Chris and Jeffie Hardin, who live in North Carolina, will visit the Vatican's Borgo Laudato Si' to learn more about how to live and teach ways that honor creation. 

Sr. Fidelia Viban, mother general of the Dominican contemplative nuns at the Monastery of St. Dominic in Bambui, Cameroon, stands on the monastery farm. The sisters grow crops to support their community and help people in need, including families displaced by the Anglophone conflict. (GSR photo/Doreen Ajiambo)

For nuns in war-torn Cameroon, conflict threatens hard-won climate solutions

As COP31 approaches, Catholic sisters' struggling biogas initiatives at the Monastery of St. Dominic in Cameroon reveal the fragility of grassroots climate action in communities strained by war and poverty.

A bronze sculpture of St. Francis of Assisi looks out over the medieval Italian town outside the Church of San Damiano on Oct. 4, 2025. (NCR photo/Brian Roewe)

In and around Assisi, pilgrims retrace St. Francis' footsteps to kinship with creation

Working with the Franciscans who steward the shrines marking the major events of St. Francis' life, Terra Laudato Si' aims to connect the saint's embrace of creation with modern-day calls for ecological conversion.

An aerial view shows an Amazon Web Services Data Center known as US East 1 in Ashburn, Virginia, Oct. 20, 2025. (OSV News/Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

Data center boom puts water, power costs and Catholic concerns on the ballot

As the artificial intelligence boom drives a rapid expansion of data centers across the United States, server facilities are becoming an increasingly visible issue in the 2026 midterm elections.

Charlie, Lucy Huh's poodle, plays on the beach

Lessons from my beloved dog, Charlie, on the feast of St. Francis

My poodle was sacred, like all creatures born from the loving heart of God. He taught me that animals, too, carry the divine spark of their creator.

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Feature Series

Contemplation With Creation

This summer blog series by Christina Leaño aims to be an exploration of the how and why of contemplation, especially in relation to creation. How can contemplation be a way of deepening our relationship with God and creation? How do you contemplate?
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COP28 Dubai

Pope Francis will attend the United Nations' COP28 climate change conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, becoming the first pontiff to ever address such a high-level summit. COP28 runs Nov. 30-Dec. 12. (OSV News/cop28.com)
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Reducing waste

Catholic parishes and communities are taking steps to reduce waste and change lifestyles.
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Burning Questions logo Burning Questions

A temple constructed by the Indigenous Toda tribe in the Nilgiris Hills of southern India, on Aug. 31, 2023. This temple is located in the heart of a sacred grassland and Toda settlement known as Muttunad Mund near Kotagiri, India. (AP Photo/Deepa Bharath)

What are sacred forests?

Sacred forests and groves are primeval woodlands that different faith communities around the world have safeguarded for centuries as abodes of the spiritual or the divine.

Pope Francis writing on a large, round, white item on a desk.

Why is the Catholic Church participating in a UN climate summit?

Brian Roewe
protest

What is loss and damage?

Brian Roewe
São Paulo Zoo, Brazil (Wikimedia Commons/Mike Peel, www.mikepeel.net)

Why is Francis of Assisi the patron saint of ecology?

Brian Roewe

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