Pontifical Universities to offer online course on Integral Ecology

By Joseph Tulloch

Pontifical (Church-run) universities in Rome are coming together to launch a new Joint Diploma in Integral Ecology.

This is a key concept for Pope Francis, stressing the interconnectedness of environmental, economic, political, social, and ethical issues.

The course will run from January to June 2024, and be taught by an international group of prominent academics, leaders and activists.

Planet "nearing breaking point"

In a press release, the Pontifical Universities said that the course was a response to “the unprecedented challenge facing the planet.”

“In 2015,” they write, “Pope Francis gifted us Laudato si’”, his landmark Encyclical calling all people of good will to action on climate change.

However, they say, as Pope Francis recognizes in his more recent Exhortation Laudate Deum, “our responses have not been adequate”, and “the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing breaking point.”

Course details

The Joint Diploma was first launched in 2016, but is now being offered for the first time in English.

The course will consist of six modules of 90 minutes each, to be held from January to June 2024, on every third Thursday of the month from 13.30 to 15.00 Rome time. There will also be a workshop in March and an international on-line conference on Laudate Deum in May.

The course will be officially inaugurated on 25th January, but admissions will remain open up to 31st March 2024.

More information, including the link to enrol in the course, can be found here.