The Biblical Grounding Of The Holy Father’s Thinking

Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti Class

Tuesday Nights at 07:00 PM beginning April 19, 2022 – Pacific Time (US and Canada)

In his role as primary teacher of the Church, Pope Francis has issued recently several important documents.  Chief among them is Laudato Si’ (On Care for Our Common Home) and Fratelli Tutti (On Fraternity and Social Relationship).  The talks in this short series will investigate some of the biblical grounding of the Holy Father’s thinking.

About the Professor

Dianne Bergant, CSA

Dianne Bergant, CSA is Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP Distinguished Professor Emerita of Biblical Studies at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. She was President of the Catholic Biblical Association of America (2000-2001) and has been an active member of the Chicago Catholic/Jewish Scholars Dialogue for the past thirty years. For more than fifteen years she has been the Old Testament book reviewer of The Bible Today, having been a member of the editorial board for twenty-five years.  Five of these years she served as the magazine’s general editor.  She is currently working in the areas of biblical interpretation and biblical theology, particularly issues of peace, ecology and feminism.

Education: MA/PhD, St. Louis University

View and download the Vatican Documents:

In the top right side of the Vatican document’s webpage there are options to view the document in different languages, or download the document as a PDF (portable document format), or print the document. 

Use these links to access the Vatican documents:

Laudato Si’ Document

Fratelli Tutti Document

Laudato Si’

April 19 Class #1 of 6
Our attitude toward the rest of the natural world springs from our understanding of what it means to be a human being. (Gen 1:26-28; 3:5)

Laudato Si’

April 26 Class #2 of 6
At the very foundation of our creaturehood, we are connected with all other Earth creatures (Gen 2:7, 9, 19, 22-23; 9:9-10; Hos 2:20)

Laudato Si’

May 3 Class #3 of 6
As Earth creatures, we are totally dependent on Earth, and in many ways, Earth is dependent on us (Hos 2:10-11; Exod 20:11 (Deut 5:15); Exos 23:10-11; Lev 25:1-4)

Fratelli Tutti

May 10 Class #4 of 6
“Who is my Neighbor?” (Luke 10:25-37)

Fratelli Tutti

May 17 Class #5 of 6
Differences should not separate us (Gal 3:28)

Fratelli Tutti

May 24 Class #6 of 6
“In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples” (Matt 28:19; Mark 16:15)  

Laudato Si’