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Pope Francis greets Lorna Gold, recently named new executive director of the Laudato Si Movement, during a private audience at the Vatican Jan 30, 2025. (OSV News photo/Vatican Media via CPP)

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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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Faith

Climate activist Lorna Gold named new leader of Laudato Si' Movement

"I believe that given the crises we face today we have a responsibility to play our part and lead where we can. … I feel this is my time to lead," Gold said.

Brian Roewe

A woman pushes a shopping cart full of coolers and cold beverages during a summer heatwave in New York City July 11, 2024. Seventeen U.S. states set annual heat records in 2024, the hottest year to date. (OSV News/Reuters/Caitlin Ochs)

Science

'Grim but not hopeless': Catholics reflect as 2024 is hottest year on record

In spite of the many plights, environmental and otherwise, facing the world, the pope has called humanity to hope.

Brian Roewe

Politics

A New Zealand mountain is granted personhood, recognizing it as sacred for Māori

Mount Taranaki — now known as Taranaki Maunga, its Māori name — is the latest natural feature to be granted personhood in New Zealand, which has ruled that a river and a stretch of sacred land are people before.

The bishops wears plain black clerics and stands speaking at podium.

Justice

US bishop pleads for human solidarity with 'discarded' migrants,' sharing their stories

Bishop Joseph J. Tyson of Yakima, Washington, knows the gritty realities of the people he shepherds. The bishop's own diocese is located in central Washington, one of the world's leading sources of apples and other produce, largely harvested through migrant labor. On Jan. 27, Tyson offered a plenary policy session titled "Pope Francis' Vision for Ecology, Dialogue, and the Common Good" to hundreds of attendees at the 2025 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington.

The writer's dog, Monte (Griffin Cunningham)

Small Earth Stories

I practice mercy in the meta-crisis by moving from my head to my heart

Griffin Cunningham

The overwhelming nature of the climate crisis can paralyze our ability to think and act toward a more sustainable future. What becomes possible when we approach it not from the head, but from the heart?

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