Rome (Italy). From 17 to 24 May 2026, the Solemnity of Pentecost, Laudato Si’ Week will take place. It is a week of initiatives, roundtables, and educational events envisioned by Pope Francis to explore and share the ecological progress being achieved within communities, families, groups, and Institutions.
“From Hope to Action” is this year’s theme, articulated as follows on the website of the LS Week:
“Hope is not passive: it is lived and shared through daily choices, community life, prayer, and concrete acts of care. This year reminds us that ecological conversion grows step by step through the restoration of relationships, the protection of creation, and the strengthening of communities. The next chapter of Laudato Si’ begins with us, wherever we may be.”
The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and the Educating Communities, joining with Catholics throughout the world, are invited to transform this hope into concrete steps for the care of our common home.
Mother Chiara Cazzuola in her Easter Message 2026, encourages us to be “witnesses of hope” by shedding “new light” on our daily relationships. “In this time of precariousness, in a world traversed by wars, conflicts, and various forms of oppression, by contemplating the Risen Jesus, we can, as Christian and consecrated women, be witnesses of hope within our own realities and shed new light on our relationships, particularly with those who share our daily life and mission.”
And also, in Circular No. 1056 of the Convocation for the 25th General Chapter, in the second core section, emphasis is placed on the nurturing of relationships:
The greatest challenge of our time is recognizing ourselves as part of a single human family. For this reason, it is urgent to continue moving toward ecological conversion, which for us, translates into a culture of care. Care is not optional, but rather the indispensable condition for ensuring human dignity and the future of our Common Home. To care means preventing harm, healing the wounds of the past, and building the future.
For Educating Communities, this entails: caring for oneself, in order to be credible educators and witnesses of hope; caring for young people, especially the most vulnerable, by offering inclusive and safe educational environments; caring for relationships, by building welcoming and intergenerational communities; caring for the planet, by fostering a moderate and responsible lifestyle; and caring for society, by promoting justice, peace, and solidarity” (2.5).
To “give substance” to hope, during Laudato Si’ Week, we are encouraged to take concrete action for integral ecology and send it to the Platform of Initiatives Laudato Si’: a tool through which schools, parishes, families, and religious institutes can put in common their plans and reflections regarding ecological conversion.
Various FMA communities around the world have already embarked on this journey by registering on the Platform. The commitment for this LS Week 2026 can therefore, be to update action plans and upload the reflections that have been developed. Alternatively, for those who have not yet done so, the invitation to register remains open, thereby contributing to a global witness of change.
Indeed, it is “small gestures” that bring about great changes: from reducing energy consumption within the Institutes to a careful review of community purchasing; from caring for a patch of local nature to organizing moments of prayer that nourish the ecological spirit. This list is certainly not exhaustive, reflecting an awareness of the commitment shown by FMA local communities in various parts of the world to implement the resolutions of the 14th General Chapter, naturally involving young people in ecological education, in keeping with the perspective of Salesian pedagogy.
On 23 May, at the conclusion of the Week, you are invited to join the 2026 Conference on Caring for Creation, which will be held via Zoom at 8:00 AM (Quito) / 2:00 PM (Rome), serving as an invitation to unite as a single global community in caring for our common home. Participants will also receive a special blessing for the concrete actions and commitments they will carry out during Laudato Si’ Week, transforming faith into action.
As Pope Francis writes in the encyclical Laudato Si’: “Hope invites us to recognize that there is always a way out… that we can always do something to resolve our problems” (LS 61). Together, it is possible to transform this Week into a workshop of active hope, in the certainty that every small gesture for our Common Home is a seed of resurrection for all of humanity.
