CLEVELAND — The Global Catholic Climate Movement is now known as the Laudato Si’ Movement. Movement leaders explained during a livestreamed program July 29 that the change better reflects the work of the 6-year-old worldwide network and its connection to prayerful action on environmental protection and climate change. The organization’s new name incorporates the Franciscan phrase Laudato Si’, which is Italian for “praised be to you,” and forms the basis of Pope Francis’ message in his 2015 encyclical, “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.” It also helps that the new name easily translates into other languages as well, reaching across Catholic communities globally, said Lorna Gold of Ireland, who chairs the group’s board of director. The change, Gold said, calls people “to be protectors of God’s handiwork, as Pope Francis call us to. It reflects broader care for our common home.” The name change also led to the unveiling of a new website, laudatosimovement.org. The movement includes more than 800 organizations and thousands of what it call Laudato Si’ animators, people working worldwide to implement the pope’s encyclical in parish and school life, local communities and businesses.
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