Jubilee Year of Saint Francis

STEWARDS OF OUR EARTH

All of God’s Creation

Social Justice Committee, Holy Cross Parish, Mt. Airy, January 25, 2026

The special Jubilee Year of Saint Francis proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV will take place from 10 January 2026 to 10 January 2027 to mark the occasion of the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi. 

In a January 10 letter to the ministers general of the Conference of the Franciscan Family, Leo said St. Francis' message of peace was needed now more than ever. That peace, the pope added, "is not limited to the relations between human beings," but extends to "the entire family of Creation.” “This insight resonates with particular urgency in our time, when our common home is threatened and cries out under exploitation," he wrote. "Peace with God, peace among human beings, and with creation are inseparable dimensions of a single call to universal reconciliation." (Junno Arocho Esteves, EarthBeat Weekly, National Catholic Reporter, 1/13/26)

Recent cutbacks on climate regulations and withdrawals from climate treaties are disruptive measures that threaten peace among people and all of creation.

“At the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), administrator Lee Zeldin has directed the federal government's top environmental health office to no longer consider the potential lives saved from proposed regulations and rules and instead only the economic impact on businesses. Meanwhile, a final rule aimed at revoking the ‘endangerment finding’ — the EPA decision underlying all federal climate regulations — is expected any day. 

“Environmental and public health advocates called the agency's action a dangerous abdication of one of its core missions. ‘The EPA's mandate is to protect public health, not to ignore the science in order to eliminate clean air safeguards that save lives,’ said John Walke, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.” (Associated Press, MedPage Today, 1/13/26) 

And on January 7, two weeks before its exit from the Paris Agreement becomes official, the [current] administration announced it would also move to withdraw from the bedrock treaty for the 2015 climate accord, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

‘These decisions will have painful and direct repercussions on the lives of vulnerable populations and God's creation already suffering from a changing climate,’ Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement about the planned withdrawals from more than 60 U.N. bodies and related organizations, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world's leading climate science group.” (Brian Roewe, Environment Correspondent, EarthBeat Weekly, National Catholic Reporter, 1/16/26)

Let us pray that, inspired by St. Francis, we might experience our interdependence with all of creation, for we are all loved by God and worthy of love and respect. (Pope Leo XIV) 

Comments on this column may be directed to the Social Justice Committee at socialjustice@holycrossphl.org. Click here for column archive.