

Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter “Laudato si’, dated on the 25 of May 2015 was officially published on the 18 June 2015, five years ago this year. Inspired in Holy Scriptures and especially in the XIII century St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun (or Canticle of the Creatures), the Church has long held the principles of responsibility and subsidiarity. With this Encyclical Letter, Pope Francis wished to recall to the Church and those of good will, humanity’s interdependence on each other and its dependence on the planet we all inhabit.
In “Laudato si”, Pope Francis draws greatly from Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. Having consulted widely and taken stock of the contemporary state of human existence, the Pontiff invites us to a deeper dialogue, free from ideological positions, open to reflect on questions vital to our very existence.
The Encyclical Letter was released just prior to United Nations Conferences on financial aid, sustainable development and climate change, of that very year. It quickly became one of the most read, commented, cited, and most published church document of our times.
The Saba University, Tbilisi, and the many who contributed to making this Papal Encyclical Letter available in Georgian are to be commended. Thank you.