The late Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical letter to “bishops, priests and deacons, men and women religious, [and] the lay faithful” (3) is a compelling argument for Christians to develop and enact an ecological vision for the world.

Notable in Praise Be to You is the Pope’s fully integrated perspective on the ecological crisis. Rather than focusing on one discrete area—carbon levels or extinction events, for e.g.—every area of life and culture is implicated in the ecological crisis and must be integrated as part of the solution.

A clear example of this is Francis’ emphasis on the poor. The poor bear a disproportionate burden from the ecological crisis and care for our “common home” can only be realized as we care for everything and everyone in it.

Praise Be to You moves through various perspectives on ecologically smoothly and clearly. Beginning with a description of the pollution crisis, Francis shifts to a theology of creation and humanity’s role in the crisis. After emphasizing the relationship among all creation, he offers some ways to approach the crisis.

The practical side was the weakest part of the encyclical. The ability for the Holy See to call on the international political community and shift public policy is a shadow of what it once was. Reading this a decade after its original publication date, it’s clear that recommended “lines of approach and action” have borne little fruit.

That caveat aside, Praise Be To You is a remarkably clear letter that should be read by all Christians who care about the world we’ve been entrusted to steward.

Francis. Praise Be to You: On Care for Our Common Home. Ignatius Press, 2015.