Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.34075/sb.66.1.2
Dialogue on the Future of All Creation: Pope Francis’s Theological and Pastoral Guidelines for Dialogue in the Encyclical Laudato Si’
Zoran Turza
orcid.org/0000-0001-8436-6592
; Catholic University of Croatia
Abstract
Dialogue is a matter of great importance to Pope Francis and one to which he devoted considerable attention, continuing along the path of the Second Vatican Council’s (1962–1965) turn toward dialogue. Pope Francis strongly advocated dialogue at all levels, with particular emphasis on strengthening dialogue with Islam, Eastern Christians, and various Christian communities that emerged from the Reformation. This paper examines how Pope Francis defines and promotes dialogue in the encyclical Laudato Si’. It proceeds from the thesis that, within the context of the ecological crisis, dialogue concerning all creation occupies a central place in the encyclical and therefore has the potential to mobilize all Christians, believers, and all people of goodwill toward ecological engagement. Dialogue is critically analyzed using the methodological framework of Pope St. Paul VI’s encyclical Ecclesiam Suam (1964). Three circles of dialogue are examined: dialogue with all people, with all those who believe in God, and with all Christians. The results of the critical analysis indicate that dialogue on environmental issues needs to be developed at the international, national, and local political levels (1); that successfully addressing the ecological crisis presupposes a new model of global development attentive to the integral development of the human person (2); and that ecological engagement requires recognition of the contributions of other religious traditions, Indigenous cultures, and various Christian communities
(3).
Keywords
dialogue; Pope Francis; Laudato Si’; interreligious dialogue; ecumenism; ecological engagement
Hrčak ID:
351445
URI
Publication date:
30.9.2026.
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