Abstract:
The environmental crisis is undoubtedly one of the most critical and urgent problems of our
times. Many people are raising their voices in support of nature to build a better future for
humanity and for our planet. In this article, the authors explore the specific contribution
that Christianity and Islam can offer in this debate and how religions can help bring back
into the ecological discourse the element of the sacred that abandoned the reflection
about nature since the advent of the Enlightenment. Moving from the spiritual dimension of
nature in the light of Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical on ecology Laudato Si’, the authors
argue that the current ecological crisis can represent an opportunity for a renewed encounter
among religions, bringing together the ethical and the spiritual, recovering the element of
communion between human beings and nature that points to something beyond themselves.
The authors present the Laudato Si’ as a universal invitation and a space for encounter
between world religions that puts at its heart love as a guiding principle and animating
force of a much-needed ecological, spiritual and anthropological conversion.
CONTRIBUTION: This article focuses on the spiritual dimension of nature in Pope Francis’s 2015
encyclical letter Laudato Si’. The authors argue that the document with its emphasis on love
represents a platform for dialogue between Christianity and Islam by bringing back the
element of the sacred in the current ecological debate.
