VATICAN CITY - During Holy Week and in the Easter season, the Vatican will take part in several initiatives highlighting the importance of ecology and the care for creation.

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - John Kostoff sees Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’: on Care for Our Common Home as a calling for Catholic educators to foster a sense of environmental responsibility rooted in religion.

“This is really a challenge that Pope Francis is presenting,” said Kostoff, director of education for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.

TORONTO - To encourage his students to start thinking about the environment of tomorrow today, technology teacher Joe Ferro has brought renewable energy into the classroom at Neil McNeil High School.

TORONTO - The youngest students at James Culnan Catholic School are getting the opportunity to connect with nature as part of their daily life at school.

In the early 1940s, as a barefoot-in-summer lad in Ireland, I had my introduction to the natural environment. My family had a small store and pub on a gravel coast road in The Burren, a barren karst limestone district on Galway Bay.

My father had built a small windmill, using the dynamo from a Ford car, with a wooden wind direction indicator, on an eight-metre pole. The constant winds from the ocean kept three “wet” batteries charged, which provided enough electricity for four light bulbs and a wireless radio. Every night, my father and the neighbours from miles around gathered around the wireless to listen to the news/propaganda from the war fronts.

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine environmentalists and advocates for farmers, fishers and the poor praised lauded the recently released encyclical, "Laudato Si'," as "affirmation" for their causes and said that, using it as a guide, they were ready to get to work.

VATICAN CITY - Requests for copies of Pope Francis' environmental encyclical and the demand for tickets to see him at the United Nations indicate enthusiasm and expectations for Pope Francis' visit are running high, said the Vatican representative.

VATICAN CITY - Caring for all of creation includes paying particular attention to the needs of young people and the aged, Pope Francis told the audience of a Catholic radio station in Argentina.

VATICAN - The Vatican announced a World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, the latest move by Pope Francis to push environmental issues up the global agenda Aug. 10.

Whether motivated by Canadian garbage, Canadian mines or devastating typhoons linked to global warming, Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical has emboldened the fight in the Philippines for environmental justice, said an advisor to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

Pope Francis’ unprecedented encyclical on climate change was forceful. Many Catholics, myself included, were pleased to see the Pope address this complex but increasingly important issue.

Following publication of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ and his recent speeches in Latin America, many supporters of capitalism might be forgiven for thinking His Holiness has something against them.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has banned an Italian journalist from the papal plane during Pope Francis’ trip to the United States as punishment for his newspaper’s role in breaching the embargo on the pontiff’s hotly anticipated encyclical.

VATICAN CITY - Many of the mayors who met July 21 with Pope Francis stayed at the Vatican for a second day of discussions focused on city planning that promotes economic growth, equality and environmental protection simultaneously.