Hospitalized and tried a bilateral pneumonia, Pope Francis sent a message to the Brazilian faithful. In the statement, released by the Vatican, the Pontiff talks about the 2025 Fraternity Campaign, promoted by the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB).
For this year, the event has as its theme “Fraternity and Integral Ecology”. The campaign motto, in turn, is “God saw that everything was very good.”
In the message, Francisco also talks briefly about the beginning of Lent and mentions COP 30, which will be held in Pará in November.
Read the full statement below:
“Dear brothers and sisters of Brazil!
With this day of fasting, penance and prayer, we began this year’s Lent of the Incarnation. On this occasion, I wish to express my proximity to the pilgrim church in this nation and to congratulate my brothers of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil by the initiative of the Fraternity Campaign, which has been repeated for over 60 years and this year has as its theme ‘Fraternity and Integral Ecology’ and as a motto the passage of Scripture in which, contemplating the work of creation, ‘God saw that everything was very good’.
With the Fraternity Campaign, the bishops of Brazil invite all the Brazilian people to follow, during Lent, a path of conversion based on the Encyclical Charter Laudato Si ‘, which I published almost 10 years ago, on May 24, 2015, and I felt the need to complement with the apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum of October 4, 2023.
In these documents, I wanted to draw the attention of all humanity to the urgency of a necessary change of attitude in our relationships with the environment, recalling that the current ‘ecological crisis is an appeal to deep inner conversion’. In this sense, my predecessor of Venerable Memory, St. John Paul II, already warned that it was ‘I needed to stimulate and support’ ecological conversion ‘, which made humanity more sensitive’ to the theme of care for the ordinary house.
Therefore, I praise the effort of the Episcopal Conference in proposing once again as the theme of ecology, along with the desired personal conversion of each faithful to Christ. May we all, with the special aid of God’s grace in this jubilating time, change our convictions and practices to let nature rest from our greedy explorations.
The theme of this year’s Fraternity Campaign also expresses the availability of the Church in Brazil to make its contribution to that, during COP 30 of next November, which will be held in Belém do Pará, in the heart of the dear Amazon, nations and international organizations can effectively commit to practices that help to overcome the climate crisis and the preservation of the wonderful work of creation, which God has confined to future generations.
I wish this Lenten itinerary to bear many fruits and fills us with all with hope, which we are pilgrims in this jubilee. I make votes that the Fraternity Campaign will again be a powerful help to the people and communities of this beloved country in its process of conversion to the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of concrete commitment to Integral Ecology.
Trusting these votes to the care of Our Lady Aparecida, I grant the apostolic blessing to all the children and daughters of the dear Brazilian nation, especially to those who strive to care for the Common House, asking them to continue to pray for me. ”
