Vatican Hopes New Mass Prayers Will Renew Care for God’s Creation

Czerny said Pope Leo XIV will celebrate a private Mass using the new prayer formulas in Castel Gandolfo on July 9. The Mass will be for employees of the Borgo Laudato Si’ initiative, which aims to put into practice the principles for integral development outlined in Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’.

The formulary of the “Mass of Care for Creation” is part of a group of Masses that can be said for various civil needs, such as for the country, for the blessing of human labor, for planting and for harvest time, in time of war, and after a natural disaster.

According to Bishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, OFM, secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, bishops’ conferences can indicate a day for the Mass to be celebrated if they wish.

Viola also noted that “the theme of creation is already present in the liturgy,” but the Mass for the Care of Creation helps emphasize what Pope Francis wrote in paragraph 66 of Laudato Si’, that “human life is grounded in three fundamental and closely intertwined relationships: with God, with our neighbor, and with the earth itself.”

The Vatican’s liturgy dicastery was responsible for the new Mass formulary, requested by Francis and approved by Leo, but Czerny said the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity were also happy to collaborate on the project.

More in Vatican

Pope Leo XIV Receives Call from Israel Prime Minister,Netanyahu, after Gaza Church Attack

Read the article

“Sacred Scripture exhorts humankind to contemplate the mystery of creation and to give endless thanks to the Holy Trinity for this sign of his benevolence, which, like a precious treasure, is to be loved, cherished, and simultaneously advanced as well as handed down from generation to generation,” the divine worship dicastery’s decree states.

“At this time it is evident that the work of creation is seriously threatened because of the irresponsible use and abuse of the goods God has endowed to our care,” it continues. “This is why it is considered appropriate to add a Mass formulary ‘pro custodia creationis’” to the Roman Missal.

Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.