Pope Francis has written the first papal encyclical focused solely on the environment, attempting to reframe care of the earth as a moral and spiritual concern and not just a matter of politics, science and economics. In the document, ‘Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home,’ he argues that the environment is in crisis – cities to oceans, forests to farmland. He emphasises that the poor are most affected by damage from what he describes as economic systems that favour the wealthy, and political systems that lack the courage to look beyond short-term rewards. But the encyclical is addressed to everyone on the planet. It’s 184 pages are an urgent, accessible call to action, making a case that all is interconnected, including the solutions to the grave environmental crisis. In paragraph 14 he says, ‘Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded.’