Integral Ecology. A New Paradigm for the Care of Creation

Abstract

The article reflects on the integral ecological vision provided by Pope Francis, with special reference to the fourth chapter of the encyclical which carries the title of “Integral Ecology”. Laudato Si’ provides a metaphysics of relationality that is the basis of our interrelated and interdependent life and existence. The article develops seven characteristics of integral ecology in Laudato Si’: the perception of Earth as our common home, an integral understanding of the ecological crisis as the cry of the earth and of the poor, a positive vision of the natural world as the “gospel of creation”, the diagnosis of the deeper conceptual roots of the crisis in the dominant technocratic paradigm of Modernity, the outlining of a new way of inhabiting the world in terms of a new politics and economy, the emphasis on ecological education and spirituality, and the communitarian journey for the rebuilding of our common home.