Five months after Pope Francis’s death, his voice remains alive and prophetic, especially in his call for a universal fraternity inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi. His passion for the care of creation endures as a precious legacy for the Church and for humanity.
Inspired by Saint Francis’s love for creation, we are called to cultivate respect for all of God’s works. Pope Francis often reminded us that caring for creation is also caring for our own humanity.
Francis begins the Canticle of the Creatures with these words: “Most High, all-powerful, good Lord, (…) praised be You (…) with all Your creatures” (FF, 1820). Love for all of creation, for its harmony! The Saint of Assisi bears witness to a deep respect for everything God created and the way He created it—not by experimenting with creation and destroying it, but by helping it to grow, to become more beautiful, and more like what God intended.
These words, spoken by Pope Francis during his visit to Assisi in 2013, reveal the deep roots of his Franciscan spirituality. Like Saint Francis, he understood that our existence is intrinsically connected to that of all other beings, recognizing them as brothers and sisters, worthy of care and reverence.
Saint Francis of Assisi placed great importance on the heart—that space of sensitive and compassionate reason where empathy, values, and spirituality are cultivated. Pope Francis saw in this attitude a concrete response to the ecological crisis afflicting the world: an integral ecology that brings together the human, the social, and the environmental.
Inspired by this legacy, we are invited to rediscover our interdependence with all of creation. Francis warned: “Man is called to safeguard man, so that humanity remains at the center of creation, in the place where God—the Creator—willed him to be, and not as an instrument of the idols we have created!” And he urged:
“Let us respect creation; let us not be instruments of destruction!” cried the Holy Father. He also challenges us: “Let us respect every human being: may the armed conflicts that stain the earth with blood come to an end, may weapons fall silent, and may hatred give way to love everywhere, offense to forgiveness, and discord to unity.”
Today, under the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, the challenge remains to continue this path of fraternity and care, in fidelity to the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi and the luminous witness of Pope Francis. May this spiritual heritage make us more attentive to the cries of our common home and help us to be, with simplicity and steadfastness, instruments of reconciliation among all creatures beloved by God.
Team Portugal
Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network