The Season of Creation is an opportunity to join the many efforts of Christians and of people of good will around the world who are working for ecological conversion, the Vatican said as it encouraged all Catholics to take part.

The Season of Creation is an ecumenical initiative celebrated every year from September 1 to October 4 (Feast of St. Francis of Assisi) and promoted and supported by various organisations, including the Laudato Si’ Movement, the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, and the Anglican Communion.

The theme of the Season of Creation 2025 is “Peace with Creation” and, as every year, the Laudato Si’ Movement has prepared a Celebration Guide.

The Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said that in 1989, Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I proclaimed September 1 as the Day of Prayer for Creation for Orthodox Christians.

“Subsequently, the World Council of Churches (WCC) extended the celebration until October 4, the feast day of St Francis of Assisi,” the Dicastery says on its website.

“In recent years, the Catholic Church has encouraged all people to embrace ecological conversion and to participate in the initiatives of this ecumenical season.”

In 2015, Pope Francis published the encyclical Laudato Si’ and soon after instituted in the Catholic Church the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation”.

Since then, the Holy Father has published a message for this World Day every year. The theme for 2025 is: “Seeds of Peace and Hope”.

Continuing in this vein, Pope Leo XIV approved the Mass for the Care of Creation (Missa pro custodia creationis) and celebrated this votive Mass himself on July 9 at Borgo Laudato Si’ in Castel Gandolfo.

The Season of Creation Biblical text for this year is Isaiah 32:14-18 in which the prophet Isaiah pictured the desolated Creation without peace because of the lack of justice and the broken relationship between God and humankind.

“This description of devastated cities and wastelands eloquently stresses the fact that human destructive behaviours have a negative impact on the Earth,” the Season of Creation website says.

“Our hope: Creation will find peace when justice is restored. There is still hope and the expectation for a peaceful Earth.

“To hope in a biblical context does not mean to stand still and quiet, but to act, pray, change, and reconcile with Creation and the Creator in unity, metanoia (repentance), and solidarity.”

The Symbol for the 2025 Season of Creation is the Garden of Peace, characterised by a dove carrying an olive branch bringing life to the Garden of Peace.

Meanwhile, in encouraging participation in the Season of Creation, Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, reflected that climate change needs a response that reaches not only our minds, but also our hearts and souls, so we can change our lifestyles and our vision of the good life.

“The Bible calls it metanoia,” he said. “If it is true that the modern ecological crisis has deep spiritual roots, it is of enormous importance when all the big Christian traditions on this globe unite in responding to it.”

The Season of Creation is such a response, he added.

“And the global Decade for Climate Justice Action that the WCC has just launched at its central committee meeting in Johannesburg will give a further push to our ecological commitment,” he said.

“I am convinced that we as churches being deeply locally rooted in parishes all over the world and, at the same time, sharing a global responsibility through our faith in the triune God can make a difference in encouraging the global spiritual reorientation that we so desperately need!”

Most Rev. Hosam E. Naoum, Anglican archbishop of the Diocese of Jerusalem, made the tie between peace for the world and peace for all creation.

“Dear Christians from across the globe and across communities, I greet you from Jerusalem, the city of the Resurrection, with a special invitation to join the Season of Creation,” he said. “In the midst of violence and as war continues in this Holy Land, we pray for peace, justice, and love to unite people. We pray for peace in the city of Jerusalem, for people in the Holy Land, and for people in the world.”

And locally, Caritas Australia’s Catholic Earthcare Program is calling on schools across the country to take part in a new initiative that brings faith and sustainability together through the new Creation Changemakers campaign.

This year’s mission is to create a Garden of Peace - a living symbol of hope and harmony within school communities, inspired by the 2025 Season of Creation theme, Peace with Creation.

Whether it’s a flourishing garden, a patch of lawn, or even a classroom corner, every school can participate and cultivate a space that reflects care for our common home.

Registered schools will also receive a comprehensive campaign guide, a Garden of Peace prayer, and a dove template for students to write and display their prayers for peace. Ready-made social media templates will also enable participants to amplify their school’s voice and inspire the wider community.

This article is drawn from articles on the website of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Integral Human Development, the World Council of Churches, the Season of Creation and Caritas Australia.