Mariana with Ellen Teague, Columban Sr Anne Carbon and Amy Echeverria – Holding holy water from the 20,000-year-old block of ice from Greenland that was blessed by Pope Leo. Photo: Adi Mariana Waqa
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending the Raising Hope Conference in Rome. While the invitation came suddenly - on the eve of my first anniversary at the Columban Mission Centre - I knew immediately it was not to be missed. The first reason was that the conference celebrated Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si, a document I have been working with religious educators on this year to develop programs for students in primary and secondary schools. The second was that Pope Leo was opening the first day of the event, marking not only the tenth anniversary of Laudato Si but also signalling a new chapter in this movement under the new Holy Father.
On the opening morning, I travelled from Gandolfo Laziale to the Mariapolis Centre in Castel Gandolfo with a Marist Brother from Brazil, Fr João Gutemberg. As we drove up toward the Pope’s summer residence, overlooking the rolling hills and the shimmering waters of Lake Albano, Fr João noticed my nervousness and smiled reassuringly, “Do not worry, I will be your guardian this morning!”
The Mariapolis Centre was alive with energy. Hundreds of guests arrived from around the world, filling the hall with a joyous mix of languages and laughter. My new “guardian” was right in the centre of it all, greeting friends and colleagues in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Before long, I met Columban Central Coordinator for Justice, Peace, and Ecology, Ms Amy Echeverria. After many months of online meetings about the Columban mission priority on biodiversity, it was wonderful to finally meet in person.
Amy became another guardian throughout the conference, introducing me to her international network of church and secular advocates for Care for Our Common Home. Through these conversations, I learned more about the Columbans’ deep contribution to Laudato Si: from Fr Seán McDonagh’s advisory role during the drafting of the 2015 encyclical to the financial support that helped establish the Laudato Si Movement in its early years.
The impact of Laudato Si was palpable as more than a thousand guests—religious, lay, and civic—filled the hall. Before the session began, a local Laudato Si Animator confided in me her concern:
“When Papa Francis passed away this year, many wondered whether the new Pope would share the same vision and support for the Laudato Si Movement’s work on caring for our common home.”
It was a sincere question that would soon be answered in Pope Leo’s opening address. Just before the Holy Father entered, four members of The Pacific Artists for Climate Justice performed a moving rendition of Ave Maria, followed by an original piece titled This Is Our Home. Their harmonies brought the voices of Pacific peoples—those living on the frontlines of the climate crisis—to the centre of the global stage:
“Oceans are rising, temperature is high,
Can we find a way to break the ride?
Homes are slowly fading, houses slipping away,
and I can’t take it anymore!
But to say, our future is something we gotta do,
For the answer to this equation starts with me and you.”
As the final notes faded, Pope Leo entered to a standing ovation. His presence filled the hall with warmth and hope.
In his opening speech, Pope Leo affirmed that Laudato Si had “greatly inspired the Catholic Church and many people of good will.” He described the encyclical as a “gift we have inherited from Pope Francis” and a “source of dialogue” that continues to shape dioceses, religious and academic institutions, business and political circles, and interfaith collaboration worldwide.
Yet he also reminded us that anniversaries of this nature should not be occasions for complacency.
“Over the years, we have transitioned from understanding and studying the Encyclical to putting it into practice. What must be done now to ensure that caring for our common home and listening to the cry of the earth and the poor do not appear as mere passing trends or, worse still, be seen and felt as divisive issues?”
His Holiness offered his own answer: genuine ecological conversion must begin in the human heart. He called for a shift from data collection to compassion, from analysis to love. An ecological conversion, he said, is inseparable from conversion to God—both having the power to transform the heart toward love of neighbour and care for creation.
Listening to his words, I smiled. God was answering the Laudato Si Animator’s concern. Pope Leo not only shares his predecessor’s vision but is asking the right questions to carry it forward.
Pope Leo concluded his address with a clear call to action:
“The most effective solutions will not come from individual efforts alone but above all from major political decisions on the national and international levels.”
He urged citizens everywhere to hold governments accountable—to demand stronger environmental protections and just economic practices. For me, this was a powerful reminder that the destruction of our common home is not simply a moral issue but a political and structural one. The responsibility to protect creation rests not only with individuals but with nations and global systems that must act for the sake of the poor and the planet.
Pope Leo’s words truly raised hope - calling people to rise up as part of our Christian responsibility.
“We cannot love God, whom we cannot see, while despising his creatures. Nor can we call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ without participating in his outlook on creation and his care for all that is fragile and wounded.”
Hearing the Pacific song earlier in the day had already taken me back to my island home of Fiji, where several coastal communities have had to relocate due to rising sea levels. Listening to Tuvalu’s Minister for Home Affairs, Climate Change, and Environment, the Honourable Dr Maina Talia, I felt the courage of Pacific peoples who continue to remind the world that while they live at the forefront of the crisis, they will not sink beneath the ocean they love without speaking for justice.
As a Columban co-worker, I am encouraged by the mission priorities of our Society, which continues to practise what it preaches in protecting biodiversity and caring for our common home. Seeing Columban representatives like Amy Echeverria—founding Board President of the Global Catholic Climate Movement (now the Laudato Si Movement)—and Ellen Teague, a London-based Columban journalist and campaigner for Justice, Peace, and Ecology, affirmed that I was in good company.
While our clergy may be aging and the world changing rapidly, I sense God’s Spirit of renewal in these uncertain times. From Columban parishes in Fiji to Pakistan, Taiwan to Peru, and the Philippines, the impacts of the climate crisis are daily realities for communities guided by Columban missionaries.
This is where the work of raising hope must continue—with concerted efforts to weave the words of Laudato Si into the lived realities of the poor and the vulnerable, through faithful stewardship and the protection of God’s creation.
Adi Mariana Waqa is the Partnership Coordinator at St Columbans, Essendon..
Related links
- Read more from the current Columban eBulletin
Day 1 Reflections - Raising Hope Conference 2025
