God's Tenderness in all Creatures: the Fundamental Thought of the Encyclical of Pope Francis "Laudato Sì"

Sa？etak Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato sì“, published in 2015, is a landmark of contemporary doctrinal teaching on creation. The paper summarizes the basic concepts of the text in seven steps. The starting point is an outline of urgent challenges Christian theology on creation faces at the dawn of 21st century. Against this background, the second step expounds the theological and pastoral objective of the encyclical. Hence, the next step elucidates the relationship between contemporary “signs of the times” and doctrinal teaching in the encyclical. The fourth step outlines the Pope’s concept of a comprehensive approach to the outstanding challenges in economy, politics and environment. On this line, the fifth step sketches the Pope’s criticism of the so-called “technocratic paradigm”. While the sixth step expounds his conception of the fundamental link and universal solidarity of all creatures, the final step exposes the notion of God’s “tenderness” which is crucial for the Pope’s theological reasoning on creation and his spirituality