Pope Francis's Laudato Deum: A Conversation with Cristina Vanin

This episode, the tenth of the second season of What Matters Most, features Dr. Cristina Vanin, an associate professor of theology and Director of the Master of Catholic Thought program at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario.  I invited Cristina on the podcast to discuss Laudato Deum, Pope Francis’s newest apostolic exhortation, released in October 2023. Laudato Deum was released just prior to COP 28 in Dubai, which Francis was unable to make due to illness. Those close to him said he was genuinely upset that he could not travel as it is a significant aspect of his pontificate and close to his heart. In addition, we discuss Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’s encyclical letter of 2015.  Both of these documents are concerned with the natural world, the environment, and with all of creation, including the place of human beings in creation. If you do not know these documents, you might not be aware of how important climate change and our need to care for the environment are to Pope Francis. Listen to this podcast to get some insight into these documents and then click on the links above to read them. The official versions in a number of languages are freely available online. 

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. 

Thanks to Martin Strong and Kevin Eng for all of their help and support in crafting this and all the other episodes. I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. 

Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on Twitter @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @stmarkscce. Or email me at jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca. Let me know what you think.

I also want to ask you to help out by letting people know about the podcast. If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. You can also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. This lets people find the podcast more easily and lets people like you enjoy the work that we are doing. I think these are important and inspiring discussions and I would like people to have a chance to listen in!

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement, St. Mark's College at UBC