Just a few days after beginning his summer holidays in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo XIV celebrated the first Mass for the Care of Creation, a new formulary of the Roman Missal. 

He offered this special celebration to raise awareness and encourage supplication regarding the responsibility of humanity to care for nature. In his message and through the Mass on June 30, he underscored this responsibility and highlighted its importance by referencing Scripture and contextualising our responsibility in the 21st century.

His message came on the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’ that weaves together scientific insight, ethical reflection, and spiritual wisdom, urging us to hear both the “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” It asks us to examine not only our external actions, but also the interior attitudes—the habits of heart and mind—that shape our relationship with the world.

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Care for Creation and Laudato si’ are a call not just to stewardship, but to kinship with the Earth and all its creatures. Pope Leo XIV emphasized that creation is a Divine gift, entrusted to humanity not for reckless exploitation, but for thoughtful guardianship. In his teachings, he reminded the faithful that the beauty of the world reflects its Creator, and that to harm the environment is, in a sense, to diminish our role as caretakers.

There are meaningful ways to participate in Pope Leo’s call for universal action, relevant to individuals across all continents. 

Take for example a small grassroots group called the Slow Food Movement that illustrates in a tangible way how to answer Pope Leo’s call as a Catholic, and at the same time gain enjoyable growth and knowledge of food, farming, food security, provenance, and sovereignty. 

The worldwide Slow Food Movement has its origin in Rome in March 1986. People were becoming alarmed at the growth of fast food and the perceived loss of local, traditionally prepared food. A major fast-food outlet scheduled to open near the Spanish Steps prompted a protest led by journalist Carlos Petrini, and marked the beginning of the movement.

While so many causes flare up and later fade away, this action in Rome continued. With the participation of food consumers, food producers, farmers, advocates, and enthusiasts growing year on year, the Slow Food Movement became what is today a collection of food and nature projects in 160 countries. 

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The Slow Food Movement is something within the reach of each person and each household. All who participate are, perhaps without realizing it, doing what Pope Leo is urging and encouraging Catholics to do.

It is as simple as a small church community changing a barren property into a garden for insects, birds and people to flourish while controlling flooding, or buying fair trade coffee, or signing a petition to protect bees from pesticides. 

You can stay in your armchair and learn about natural wine making without sulfites, or read of small gardens assisting thousands of African schoolchildren, or learn how people in Canada are saving a species of heirloom wheat from extinction. 

Slow Food projects have brought together Indigenous groups to highlight their food traditions and to protect food sovereignty. The basic message is to care for creation through justice for food producers acting together to ensure good, clean and fair food for all.

The Slow Food Movement is an already formed group so you don’t have to start one. It is like a one stop shop for finding a place where your interests can be realized in as great a detail as suits your circumstance.

Check out:  https://www.slowfood.com/events/terra-madre-americas-2025/in Sept 2025 

Another event is an artisan cheese festival in the Fall 2025 in Bra Italy. https://cheese.slowfood.it/en/

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I am also organizing a trip in May 2026 to Bra, Italy to learn about the philosophy of farming the slow food way. If you would like to reserve a place, go to foodandfaith.ca. We will be a small group of 15 participants. 

At the heart of Pope Leo’s message is a simple, transformative command: To see the world not as a warehouse of resources but as a living testament to Divine generosity. When we care for creation, we participate in a sacred tradition that unites contemplation with action, gratitude with responsibility. In this way, Pope Leo XIV’s vision urges us to cultivate not just the land, but also our capacity for wonder and reverence—so that, in caring for creation, we might find ourselves, too, renewed.