VATICAN CITY (RNS) — As record‑breaking heat waves scorch much of Europe — with triple‑digit temperatures, wildfires and deaths reported — the Vatican on Thursday (July 3) released a new liturgy for the Mass reflecting concern for the environment, offering prayers, readings and hymns that highlight the church’s responsibility to protect the Earth.
This new Mass “can be used to ask God for the ability to care for creation,” said Cardinal Michael Czerny, who heads the Vatican’s Dicastery for Integral Human Development, at a press conference.
The new Mass, Pro Custodia Creationis (For the Care of Creation), was initially ordered by Pope Francis, who made the environment a major theme of his papacy and the subject of his second encyclical, “Laudato Si’,” subtitled “On Care for Our Common Home,” in 2015.
Pope Leo XIV has signaled that creation care will be a key area of interest for him as well and a point of continuity between Leo and his predecessors on social issues, especially the environment. Leo will celebrate the new Mass privately on Wednesday at the Borgo Laudato Si’, an eco-village Francis commissioned in the gardens of the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.
Pro Custodia Creationis will be added to the existing list of 17 Masses for special c …