Laudato Si’ Universities: 7-Year Journey Towards Integral Ecology

In 2020, Pope Francis announced the creation of the Laudato Sí Action Platform website (laudatosiactionplatform.org) and its action counterpart, the 7-Year Journey Toward Integral Ecology. To bring the Society of Jesus into assistance on these important projects, the E&EJ Task Force made immediate contact with the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and offered aid to the Church in its outreach efforts to universities on these initiatives. Since 2021, the Task Force has led the Universities Working Group for the Vatican Dicastery, coordinating efforts at enlisting both religiously and non-religiously affiliated universities to Pope Francis' 7-Year Journey Toward Integral Ecology.

As an aid for universities considering and implementing Pope Francis' 7-Year Journey Toward Integral Ecology, the E&EJ Task Force coordinated a group of more than 40 scholars from around the world to create the University Pathways website, Laudato Si' University Working Group (laudatosiuniversities.com). This is a constantly updated website with technical and content volunteers from four Jesuit universities.

The E&EJ Task force has been regularly engaging students at Jesuit universities to create videos supporting university participation in the 7-Year Journey and, more specifically, emphasizing the importance of the 7 Journey goals. On June 17, 2022, a set of seven 2-minute videos from students at Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University, Sanata Dharma University, Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla, and Loyola University Chicago was released to a global audience on the Laudato Sí Action Platform. See the University Pathways Laudato Si' Action Platform on YouTube to learn more. The Task Force continues this effort at facilitating university student voices.