Pope Video: Our relationship with all of creation

In the Pope Video for September 2025 distributed by the Popes Worldwide Prayer Network » Pope Leo XIV asks that we pray, “That inspired by Saint Francis, we might experience our interdependence with all creatures who are loved by God and worthy of love and respect.” Read the full press release below»

Pope Leo XIV’s prayer on the theme of creation.

Lord, You love everything You have created,
and nothing exists outside the mystery of Your tenderness.
Every creature, no matter how small,
is the fruit of Your love and has a place in this world.

Even the simplest or shortest life is surrounded by Your care.
Like St. Francis of Assisi, today we too want to say:
“Praised be You, my Lord!”

Through the beauty of creation,
You reveal Yourself as a source of goodness. We ask You:
open our eyes to recognize You,
learning from the mystery of Your closeness to all creation
that the world is infinitely more than a problem to solve.
It is a mystery to be contemplated with gratitude and hope.

Help us to discover Your presence in all creation,
so that, in fully recognizing it,
we may feel and know ourselves to be responsible for this common home
where You invite us to care for, respect, and protect
life in all its forms and possibilities.

Praised be You, Lord!
Amen.

(Vatican City, 2 September 2025). Today, the new edition of The Pope Video for the month of September is released. In it, the Pope asks for prayers “That, ecumenical period from September 1 to October 4 (the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi) that unites Christians from various denominations in prayer and action for the care of the earth.

In fact, in the original prayer the Pope recites in the video, he asks the Lord: “Help us to discover Your presence in all creation, so that…we may feel and know ourselves to be responsible for this common home where You invite us to care for, respect, and protect life.” The continuity between the teaching of Pope Leo XIV and Pope Francis, the author of the Encyclical Laudato Si’ (2015), is particularly evident in the reference to Saint Francis: “Like Saint Francis of Assisi, today we too want to say: ‘Praised be You, my Lord!’”

The video accompanying the Pope’s prayer intention, and the prayer itself, emphasize the special moment in which 2025 Season of Creation is taking place – it links two anniversaries: the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of Creation and the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’s Encyclical Laudato Si’.

The Franciscan background of the Holy Father’s prayer intention comes alive through several images from the documentary St. Francis of Assisi – Sign of Contradiction, a gift to the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network by the U.S. based film company 10th Hour Productions. The anniversary of Laudato Si’ is depicted through the Mass celebrated this past July 9 by Pope Leo XIV in the “natural cathedral” (as he referred to it in his homily) of Borgo Laudato Si’ in Castel Gandolfo. This liturgy followed the prayers of the Missa pro custodia creationis (Mass for the Care of Creation), added to the Roman Missal by the Pope specifically for the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’s encyclical. 

Among those concelebrating the Mass was Cardinal Michael Czerny S.J, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which supported the production of this Pope Video. “The Jubilee of Hope and the 10th anniversary of the Encyclical Laudato Si’ invite us to live a moment of gratitude, commitment to and care for our common home,” the Cardinal highlighted. He added, “All creatures, even the smallest, are expressions of God’s love. In prayer, we recognize the value and sacredness of every life. The Holy Father encourages us to discover God’s presence in creation. Contemplating it, we are called to care for it, be reconciled to it, to live in harmony with and defend it with a prophetic spirit, to respect every human person, and to promote lasting and sustainable peace.”

In his message, “Seeds of Peace and Hope,” for the 10th World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (celebrated yesterday, September 1), Pope Leo XIV states that the destruction of nature, a consequence of human sin, affects most of all the poorest and most vulnerable. Environmental justice, the Pope writes, “Is an urgent need that involves more than simply protecting the environment. For it is a matter of justice – social, economic and human,” as well as a theological requirement. Since the weakest suffer the worst consequences of climate change and environmental destruction, “Care for creation becomes an expression of our faith and humanity.”

The International Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, Father Cristóbal Fones, S.J., explains that this month’s prayer intention “Reminds us how interconnected our world is. Our well-being cannot be separated from other creatures living on earth.”

Father Fones continues, “The Pope invites us to reflect on how our actions affect nature, God’s work, and to seek ways of living that foster the restoration, natural balance and harmony between human beings and the environment.” He notes “In the midst of such a competitive, hectic world, dominated by consumerism, a large part of humanity deeply longs to live well, closer to and more respectful of nature”

For Father Fones, Saint Francis can inspire us on this journey toward a life that is “simpler, less consumeristic, based on friendly relationships with others and with nature, in a childlike relationship of love for and gratitude to God.”