Pope Leo XIV links Resurrection to integral ecology: Jesus, the new Gardener, calls believers to ecological conversion and care for creation as an expression of Easter hope.
Newsroom (19/11/2025 Gaudium Press )In his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV continued his Jubilee 2025 catechetical series on “Jesus Christ Our Hope,” drawing a profound connection between the Resurrection of Christ and the urgent call for an “integral ecology” that embraces both human dignity and care for creation.
The Holy Father reflected on the Gospel scene of Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb. Mistaking the risen Jesus for the gardener, she unwittingly touched on a deep biblical truth, the Pope explained. The burial of Christ took place in a garden (John 19:41), deliberately echoing the Garden of Eden and humanity’s primordial vocation to “cultivate and keep” the earth (Genesis 2:15).
“Mary Magdalene was not entirely mistaken in believing she had encountered the gardener,” Pope Leo XIV said. “Jesus, having fulfilled the original task entrusted to humanity, truly is the new Gardener who makes all things new.”
The Pontiff recalled that Christ’s final words on the Cross – “It is finished” (John 19:30) – marked the completion of this redemptive cultivation. From the seed of the Crucified One sown in the garden-tomb springs the fruit of the Resurrection, offering humanity a renewed mission as custodians rather than destroyers of creation.
Quoting his predecessor Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Leo XIV stressed that authentic ecological responsibility cannot be reduced to technical fixes or partial responses to pollution and resource depletion. Instead, it demands “a distinctive way of looking at things, a way of thinking, policies, an educational programme, a lifestyle and a spirituality” that together resist the exploitation of both people and the planet (Laudato Si’, 111).
This transformation, he insisted, begins with an ongoing “ecological conversion” inseparable from the metanoia – the change of heart – to which Christ continually calls his followers. Like Mary Magdalene turning around to recognize the risen Lord, believers are invited to continual conversion that moves from tears to hope, from destruction to restoration.
The Holy Father highlighted the potential for common ground between Christians and the millions – especially young people – who already “hear the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth.” He invoked Psalm 19, reminding the faithful that the heavens themselves proclaim God’s glory in a voice that needs no words, reaching “to the end of the world.”
Concluding his catechesis, Pope Leo XIV prayed that the Holy Spirit would grant believers ears to hear “the voice of those who have no voice,” enabling them to glimpse the restored Paradise that awaits those who faithfully fulfill their vocation as gardeners of God’s creation.
During the audience, the Pope extended warm greetings to English-speaking pilgrims from England, Ireland, Africa, Asia, and the United States, with particular mention of student groups from Xavier University of Louisiana and the University of Dallas in Texas. He wished all present that the Jubilee of Hope be “a time of grace and spiritual renewal.”
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican.va
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