FR LAZAR ARASU: From Assisi to the Amazon: What Saint Francis Teaches Us About Saving the Earth

What the report says

In an opinion piece published by Watchdog Uganda, Rev. Fr. Lazar Arasu reflects on the life of Saint Francis of Assisi and uses it to argue for stronger care of the environment. The article traces Francis’s early life in Assisi, Italy, his break from a wealthy merchant family background, and his spiritual conversion, which led him to focus on repairing the church and, more broadly, renewing society and creation.

The piece presents Saint Francis as a model for how people should relate to nature. It describes his close identification with the natural world, his concern for the poor, and the idea that his life showed solidarity with suffering creation. The author says Francis’s example is especially relevant amid pollution, loss of biodiversity, and damage to forests, oceans, air, and soil.

A major reference point in the article is the 2019 Amazon rainforest fires, which the writer uses to highlight what he sees as weak global urgency over environmental destruction. The author contrasts that response with the speed of fundraising for rebuilt cultural landmarks, arguing that societies often protect human-made monuments more quickly than ecosystems.

The article concludes by urging simpler living, respect for vulnerable people, and a view of humanity as part of nature rather than master over it. It also notes that Pope John Paul II named Saint Francis the patron of ecology, underscoring the saint’s long-standing symbolic role in environmental thought.