As Laudato Si Week 2023 kicked off Sunday, Pope Francis used the occasion to urge people to do their part to take care of the environment.

“Yesterday, [Laudato Si Week] began,” the pontiff tweeted Monday. “I invite everyone to collaborate in the care of our common home. There is such a need to put our capabilities and creativity together!” 

Laudato Si Week 2023, celebrated May 21-28 this year, marks the eighth year since the release of Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home" in 2015. This encyclical addresses environmental concerns, building upon the Church's long standing teachings on creation, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said in a release. 

In the encyclical, Pope Francis urges the Church, as well as everyone in the world, to recognize the pressing nature of environmental threats, including global warming, and to unite in a shared effort to preserve the planet. The encyclical is divided into six chapters and it addresses key themes such as "The State of Our Common Home," "The Gospel of Creation," "The Human Causes of the Ecological Crisis," and more, the USCCB release said.

During Laudato Si Week this year, Catholic organizations worldwide will screen the film "The Letter,” which shows the journey of frontline leaders to Rome. The film features many discussions with Pope Francis about his encyclical letter, Laudato Si, and offers a glimpse into his personal history, uncovering untold stories that shed light on his experiences, according to The Letter Film’s website. 

“Both the science community and the faith community are very clear: the planet is in crisis and its life support system [is] in peril," Hoesung Lee, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said in a Catholic News Agency report. "The stakes have never been higher, and we should be the source of the solution to this crisis.” 

Cardinal Michael F. Czerny spoke about the significance of the film.

“The film and the personal stories powerfully show that the ecological crisis has arrived and is happening now,” Czerny told the Catholic News Agency. “The time is over for speculation, for skepticism and denial, for irresponsible populism. Apocalyptic floods, mega-droughts, disastrous heatwaves, and catastrophic cyclones and hurricanes have become the new normal in recent years; they continue today; tomorrow, they will get worse.”