Pope Francis’ Prophecy

Jonathan Safran Foer

Ten years ago, Pope Francis released Laudato Si’, a document that was startling not only for its moral clarity, but its astonishing foresight. As we mark its tenth anniversary, it is clear that Laudato Si’ was not merely an encyclical, it was a prophetic cry that foresaw the deep ecological and human crises we now urgently face. Laudato Si’ was ahead of its time, uniting science, spirituality, and social justice in a way few global leaders had the courage, or vision, to do.

In 2015, the global climate conversation was floundering. International negotiations had stalled. Environmental policies were fragmented, often diluted by corporate interests. Most world leaders either downplayed the crisis or ignored it entirely. Moral leadership was virtually nonexistent.

It was into this silence — what Pope Francis called “the globalization of indifference” — that Laudato Si’ arrived. He named what others would not: that our ecological crisis is inseparable from a crisis of values, a crisis of heart. He denounced the “throwaway culture,” the “idolatry of profit,” and the systemic exploitation of both people and the planet. And he did so not with blame, but with an invitation to care.

What made Laudato Si’ so brave was not only its critique of environmental destruction, but its insistence that spiritual, economic, and ecological renewal must go hand in hand. Pope Francis dared to proclaim what few dared to whisper: that the poor are not collateral damage in a technological race, but the first victims of a broken system; that the Earth, abused and plundered, is crying out like the poor, and that both cries must be heard together.

A decade later, the signs of ecological collapse are no longer warnings; they are realities. And yet Laudato Si’ remains a beacon. It reminds us that there is another way to live, one that honors the dignity of all life. It reminds us that indifference is not neutral, it is complicity. And perhaps most of all, it reminds us that we are not powerless. It is a call to remember who we are, and what we owe to one another — and to the Earth that is still, despite everything, our common home. Read it. Read it to your children.