The Catholic University of Costa Rica (Universidad Católica de Costa Rica) is organizing a Laudato Si’ international symposium on The Care of the Common Home: A Necessary Conversion to Human Ecology (El cuidado de la Casa Común: una conversión necesaria a la Ecología Humana) in collaboration with the Fondazione Vaticana Joseph Ratzinger-Benedetto XVI from 29 November to 1 December 2017.
This is the first such symposium in Costa Rica and in Central America, gathering theologians from the Catholic Church and academics and scientists from universities around the world. A key topic is the presentation of a country system of measurement or development index that is based on the environmental indicators laid out in Laudato Si’. For this, the Laudato Si’ Observatory at the Catholic University of Costa Rica will also be inaugurated during the symposium whose purpose is to take environmental and social measurements of the planet, in accordance with Laudato Si’.
Six working groups are tasked to analyze topics based on results of the global measurement index for Laudato Si’ Human Ecology:
- The intimate relationship between the poor and the fragility of the planet: satisfaction of basic needs and the throwaway culture
- The conviction that everything in the world is connected: Environmental balance and social mobility
- The critique of new paradigms and forms of power derived from technology: The impact of environmental management on human beings and our common home
- The call to seek other ways of understanding the economy and progress and the serious responsibility of international and local policy
- The proposal of a new lifestyle: Research and knowledge path to increase the impact of Laudato Si’ around the world
A video message from Pope Francis shared his concern that “the problems of the destruction of the natural environment are increasingly serious and the consequences on the lives of people are dramatic” and to deal with them, “we need to have a broad view of the causes, the nature of the crisis and its various aspects.”
Again, he eschewed the reliance on technical solutions alone, stressing the need for “a true conversion of our attitudes and daily behaviours” and quoting from his predecessor Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Pope Francis emphasized the need for a “human ecology” that puts the integral development of the human person at the centre.
For more information and future updates, please go to the symposium website.
