This Earth Day, inspired by the legacy of a departed spiritual leader, citizens are called to live in ecological balance and moral clarity
Earth Day 2025 has arrived amid the solemn news of Pope Francis’ recent passing. In this moment of planetary reckoning and spiritual loss, the memory of a pontiff who championed environmental justice gains renewed relevance. His voice, which urged the world to see creation as sacred, now echoes more profoundly than ever.
The environmental legacy of Pope Francis is inseparable from Laudato Si’, the encyclical issued in 2015 that addressed “every person living on this planet” (Francis, 2015). In it, the pontiff invited humanity to view ecological destruction not merely as a scientific or economic issue but as a profound moral failing.
Drawing from scripture, science, and social justice principles, he described the Earth as “our common home,” currently being degraded by a “throwaway culture” marked by exploitation, inequality and apathy (Francis, 2015). The encyclical did not merely advocate for climate action; it offered a theology of care of integral ecology which recognised that environmental degradation and human suffering are fundamentally intertwined.
Moral authority on
ecological concerns (SUBHEAD)
Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis remained a global moral authority on ecological concerns. He consistently framed climate change as an ethical issue, one that disproportionately harmed the poor, indigenous peoples, and future generations (Francis, 2015).
At the United Nations Climate Action Summit, he warned of “a climate emergency” and emphasised that nature could no longer be viewed as separate from humankind (United Nations, 2019). In his final exhortations, he accused world leaders of lacking courage, stating that the world was “nearing the breaking point” due to inaction (Francis, 2023).
His influence was widely acknowledged for shaping the global discourse leading up to the 2015 Paris Agreement, where world leaders began to speak in terms previously reserved for theologians and philosophers (Sweeney, 2016).
The resonance of Pope Francis’s environmental teachings in India has been uneven. While sections of the Catholic community responded by organising seminars, campaigns, and ecological outreach, the broader public engagement remained limited. Nonetheless, his call aligns strikingly with Article 51A(g) of the Indian Constitution, which mandates every citizen “to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife” (Constitution of India, 1950). Moreover, the Directive Principles of State Policy, especially Article 48A, place a duty upon the State to protect the environment. In this shared vision, constitutional morality and theological wisdom converge.
Repeated threat from
unregulated tourism
In Goa, where verdant hills meet vulnerable coastlines, Pope Francis’s words bear particular significance. The state’s natural heritage its forests, wetlands, and marine ecosystems has come under repeated threat from mining, unregulated tourism, and industrial development.
Laudato Si’ condemned such extractive practices, stating unequivocally that “the exploitation of the planet has already exceeded acceptable limits” (Francis, 2015, para. 27). These observations found resonance with Goan civil society movements resisting deforestation in Mollem, pollution in the Mandovi river basin, and the unchecked expansion of coal transportation hubs in Mormugao.
Goa’s tourism economy, while vital, has amplified environmental degradation.
The unchecked construction of resorts along the coastline, waste accumulation in fragile ecosystems, and traffic surges in protected zones have all contributed to a localised “ecological collapse” (Noronha, 2022). Pope Francis warned against such capitalist overreach, remarking that market forces without ethics inevitably lead to “disintegration of the planet” (Francis, 2015, para. 56). Yet in Goa, much like elsewhere, the ecological conversion he advocated for remains aspirational rather than realised. While diocesan pastoral letters have occasionally touched upon the need for ecological awareness, a transformation of habits, policies and public priorities has not been visibly institutionalised.
Turning point
for action
Earth Day 2025 must therefore not be observed as a symbolic ritual, but as a turning point for action. Climate change continues to manifest in India through erratic monsoons, crop failures, heatwaves, and rising sea levels. Goa, too, is increasingly vulnerable, as seen in saltwater intrusion into aquifers, coastal erosion, and the decline of traditional agrarian livelihoods. These phenomena reflect what Pope Francis described as a “complex crisis” with both social and environmental dimensions (Francis, 2015, para. 139).
Pope Francis’s environmental gospel calls not for despair but for ethical courage and ecological solidarity. He urged institutions to “hear both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor” (Francis, 2015, para. 49), thereby articulating a framework that binds environmentalism with social justice. His teachings now form a corpus of moral wisdom which must be operationalised within democratic frameworks. In India, this necessitates strict implementation of environmental legislation, curbing of illicit construction, reform of waste management practices, and the protection of ecological commons.
At the level of individual action, the constitutional duty under Article 51A(g) must be embraced as an ethical imperative. Every citizen has a role to play through conservation, accountability, and civic engagement. This Earth Day, inspired by the legacy of a departed spiritual leader, citizens are called to live in ecological balance and moral clarity.
In his passing, Pope Francis leaves behind a message of planetary stewardship that remains alive in law, conscience, and creation. Let Earth Day 2025 mark the beginning of an era that does not merely admire his teachings but lives them out vividly, urgently, and inclusively.
Sustainable development must be enforced by the State to secure environmental justice for future generations.
