New
New
Year 9

Pope Francis and the Laudato Si' encyclical

I can explain the message of Laudato Si’ and how it calls people to care for our common home responsibly.

New
New
Year 9

Pope Francis and the Laudato Si' encyclical

I can explain the message of Laudato Si’ and how it calls people to care for our common home responsibly.

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Laudato Si' is the name of Pope Francis' encyclical on caring for the planet.
  2. An encyclical is a public letter from the Pope developing Catholic teaching on a topic often in light of current events.
  3. The encyclical begins by quoting St Frances of Assisi, who is the parton saint of animals.
  4. It includes seven key areas of focus which cover poverty, the environment, education and spirituality.

Keywords

  • Common home - the Earth we share and must look after

  • Ecological conversion - changing how we live to care better for the Earth

  • Throwaway culture - treating people, the planet, and relationships as disposable

Common misconception

The Roman Catholic Church is only focused on Catholics and personal morality.

This encyclical is addressed to the whole world as Pope Francis saw that all the world was a common home for everyone.


To help you plan your year 9 religious education lesson on: Pope Francis and the Laudato Si' encyclical, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

The Cafod website has some beautiful animations of the encyclical that could be shown. The Laudato Si' centre in Manchester has more detail about their work.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Loading...

Prior knowledge starter quiz

Download quiz pdf

5 Questions

Q1.
What does stewardship mean in religious teachings?

owning land and using it for profit
Correct answer: caring for the world as a duty from God
leaving the Earth to fix itself

Q2.
What did Mary Midgley argue about humans and nature?

humans should build more cities to help nature
nature is dangerous and must be controlled
Correct answer: humans are part of nature, not above it

Q3.
What is a khalifah in Islam?

Correct answer: a person responsible for protecting the Earth
a religious leader in a mosque
a person who studies the Qur’an

Q4.
What is Tikkun Olam in Jewish teaching?

a celebration of nature
a rule about animal care
Correct answer: the idea of repairing and improving the world

Q5.
What is dominion in the Judeo-Christian tradition?

caring for animals as pets
Correct answer: God giving humans power to rule over the Earth
leaving nature untouched and unmanaged

Assessment exit quiz

Download quiz pdf

5 Questions

Q1.
Match the key words to their definitions.

Correct Answer:encyclical,public letter from the Pope developing Catholic teaching

public letter from the Pope developing Catholic teaching

Correct Answer:ecological conversion,changing how we live to care better for the Earth

changing how we live to care better for the Earth

Correct Answer:throwaway culture,treating people, the planet, and relationships as disposable

treating people, the planet, and relationships as disposable

Q2.
Pope Francis wrote Laudato Si’ to encourage us to care for our common ...

Correct Answer: home, Home

Q3.
What does Laudato Si’ connect care for the Earth with?

owning land and natural resources
Correct answer: helping the poor and reducing harm to nature
building more churches in rural areas

Q4.
What was Laudato Si’ inspired by?

a famous scientist’s theory about the Earth
Correct answer: St Francis of Assisi’s love for animals and nature
a letter from a group of bishops in Africa

Q5.
The Catholic Church only cares about Catholics and personal morality.

True – the Church is only for its own members.
False – the Pope focuses only on religious laws, not people or nature.
Correct answer: False – the Pope addressed his message to the whole world.

Additional material

Download additional material