Each year from September 1 to October 4, the Christian family unites for this worldwide celebration of prayer and action to protect our common home. It is a special season where we celebrate God as Creator, and acknowledge Creation as the divine continuing act that summons us as collaborators to love and care for the gift of all that is created.
As followers of Christ from around the globe, we share a common call to care for Creation. We are co-creatures and part of all that God has made. Our well-being is interwoven with the well-being ofthe Earth. We rejoice in this opportunity to safeguard our common home and all beings who share it with us.This year, the theme for the Season is “Living Water."
Our Biblical text for this year is drawn from Ezekiel 47: 1- 12, which portrays God’s life-giving water flowing from the temple of God. The river grows deeper and deeper restoring barren land, reviving waters, and sustaining flourishing ecosystems.
The vision invites human responsibility: recognising ecological damage, embracing interconnectedness, we are called to immerse ourselves in the water, and actively safeguarding and working for the renewal of creation so that environmental healing and human well-being may flourish together.
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Is 2:4) is the theme of Pope Leo XIV’s Message for the 2026 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, published in the Bulletin of the Holy See.
The Holy Father’s Message highlights the connection between armed conflict and environmental degradation. Such degradation constitutes both a serious violation of our duty to care for creation, as well as a long-term threat to the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
The now widespread awareness of the impact of war on natural resources has not led to the creation of adequate institutions or to responsible decisions aimed at preventing conflicts and resolving disputes peacefully. The title — a passage in which Isaiah prophesies the transformation of weapons into agricultural tools — is an explicit invitation to prioritize development and sustainability over violence and destruction.
Full Message for World Day of Creation
The Decree for a Votive Mass for the Care of Creation was promulgated in a Press Conference in Rome on 3 July 2025 (page three is in English).
Decree for Votive Mass
Message to Bishops
Archbishop Bernard Longley has approved the use of the following texts- for temporary use (as these are working translations) - for parishes and communities to celebrate the Mass this year, on 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, whilst schools may desire to celebrate it sometime during the Season of Creation, running from 1 September - 4 October.
Mass for the Care of Creation
This guide will help you learn about and plan for this season. It includes ideas for prayer, including an ecumenical prayer service and ways to incorporate and reflect on this year’s theme.
Season of Creation Celebration Guide
Living WaterHoly God, whose Spirit hovered over the waters at the beginning, we gather as partof your community of all creation, thirsty for your grace. We give thanks for the giftof water, the veins of our common home, that sustains the cedar and the whale, thepasture and the city. We are grateful for the local waters that nourish ourhomelands and our fellow creatures. We give thanks that in your well-wateredgarden, every drop is a sacred testament to your love.
Yet, we confess that we have treated this gift as a mere commodity. We havechoked the seas with our waste and watched the warming tides rise in judgment.We lament the cracked earth of the drought-stricken and the salty tears of theclimate refugee. Melt our frozen hearts, O God, and let the waters of repentanceflow.
Lord of all Life, you promised that wherever the river flows, everything shall live.Stir in us a calling to care for the waters — to protect the watershed, defend therights of water, and honor the dignity of the thirsty. May your Word be a springwithin us, gushing forth for the healing of the nations.
May God our Father who brought water from the rock sustain us in the desert. MayChrist our Lord who is Living Water refresh us for the work of restoration. And maythe Holy Spirit carry us on currents of grace until justice rolls down like waters andrighteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amen.
Season of Creation.org
Plan to become a Live Simply ParishArchbishop Bernard, and the Diocesan Care for Creation Committee, have called for parishes and schools to take on this Award. Our schools have responded, but not many parishes have registered.
To achieve this award, administered by CAFOD, you will need a small planning group. You choose your own targets, three each under the headings of Living Simply, Living Sustainably and Living in Solidarity, one of which should be a ‘major’ target, involving the whole parish or involving the outside community.
Register with CAFOD, who are very helpful with advice; keep records, and when you have completed your chosen actions CAFOD will check. Then celebrate the Award!
LiveSimply Award
Re-read and study Laudato Si
Visit the Laudato Si Movement website; become a Laudato Si Animator, (take the next online course).
Laudato Si' Movement
Arrange for a Season of Creation Liturgy in your parish
A Catholic Liturgical Guide is available on the Season of Creation website, under resources.
Season of Creation Resources
Hold a public Screening of the People's Emergency Briefing
A new 45-minute film titled People's Emergency Briefing was released across the UK on Tuesday 7 April. The documentary draws on expert material first presented at Westminster Central Hall in November 2025 and sets out clear scientific evidence on how climate and nature breakdown is already affecting life in the UK.
Many of the issues explored in the briefing echo concerns raised by Pope Francis in Laudato Si’ to care for our common home. Pope Francis emphasises the need for ecological conversion, and Pope Leo XIV has continued this message. In his 2025 Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, he warned that “nature itself has become a bargaining chip” and called all people to recognise the moral urgency of protecting creation and defending the most vulnerable.
A national screening map is available online to help you find screenings in your area and you can also sign up to host your own screening.
People's Emergency Briefing
Show the film ‘The Letter’
A powerful film by The Laudato Si Movement. The film, and accompanying resources for a screening can be found here.
The Letter
Check the Laudato Si Action Platform websiteThe Laudato Si' Action Platform equips Catholic institutions and individuals to journey towards total sustainability in the spirit of Laudato Si'.Sponsored by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Laudato Si’ Action Platform provides concrete resources to protect our common home.
Laudato Si Action Platform
Latest news and information on the environment in the Archdiocese:
Environment in the Archdiocese
Held to celebrate the Season of Creation, this webinar will explore the theme chosen by the World Council of Churches, “Immersion in Living Water”, through the lens of education – not as something confined to schools or academia, but as a lifelong journey of formation, ecological conversion, and daily habits and actions. Read more
A personal reflection by parishioner and Justice and Peace Commission Member Phil Mayland Read more
The Decree for a Votive Mass for the Care of Creation was promulgated in a Press Conference in Rome on 3 July 2025. Read more
Brian Austin, from the Laudato Si UK Animators’ Writing Group, reflects on Carbon Offsetting. What is it? How we we use it responsibly? Read more