Laudato Si’ Pilgrimage
The pilgrimage of the icons of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi is an initiative of the JPIC Offices of Latin America and, in celebrating the five years of the Encyclical, will be extended to the five continents. Pilgrimage reminds us that we are just passing through and that others will be pilgrims after us. Therefore, to go on pilgrimage invites us to walk together with others and to assume responsibility for the care of creation for future generations.
The faces of Francis and Clare, painted and enculturated by local artists, will travel through many fraternities in Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania. They emulate the pilgrimage of Latin America where, based on the “Laudato Si icons”, the meeting, formation, reflection and action of the Franciscan family around the values of the Laudato Si encyclical were made possible.
Laudato Si Icon of St. Francis and St. Clare
Latin America
The pilgrim icons come to us as a message of hope and strengthening of each of the national Franciscan families. We want to accept their invitation by being contemplatives in the history of our peoples, being custodians of creation and instruments of justice and peace, bringing reconciliation to all places.
With the presence of Clare and Francis on pilgrimage through the Americas, we too must be itinerant, walking towards new styles of life congruent with the charism that the Holy Spirit inspired in the founders and the early Franciscan fraternity. The motto of this pilgrimage is:
Walking with Francis and Clare for a fraternal and supportive world in Justice, Peace and Integrity with Creation at the service of the care of the common home.
The author of the Laudato Si’ icons of St. Francis and St. Clare is Friar Juan Rendón Herrera, OFM, a Franciscan belonging to the Province of San Pablo in Colombia.
Laudato Si Icon of St. Francis and St. Clare
Asia
According to the author of the Asian Laudato Si Icon, Asia is a vast continent with a diverse range of cultural traditions. If Asia is divided into two half, East Asia and Southwest Asia, Oceania will be found in the later part of the two regions. Asia’s most popular culture is that of food. Food is a fundamental requirement for human survival. In spiritual terms, rice and wheat reflect the civilizations that epitomize our lives and represent the believers’ eternal existence in the afterlife. Rice and wheat not only give nutrition for our bodies, but they also symbolize eternal life.
The Laudato Si Revolution Pilgrimage is a path to ecological conversion that is being paved using the integrated ecological paradigm. Journeying with Francis and Clare, discovering the kingdom of God and eternal life on this planet, we may begin to move as stewards of our common home in the direction of ecological conversion.
Due to Covid 19 pandemic, the pilgrimage in Asia is postponed until the situation will allow it.
The author of the Laudato Si’ icons of St. Francis and St. Clare in Asia is Friar Oh Seung Min (Stephen), a Franciscan from the Province of Holy Korean Martyrs.
