John Cavadini, "Augustine and Francis: The Saints of Laudato Si'", Church Life Journal (September 21, 2021).
"Who are the “holy influences” behind Pope Francis’s encyclical letter Laudato si'? The first words of the text, taken as its title, reveal one of them very clearly, for it is a quote from St. Francis’s Canticle of Brother Sun, “Laudato si’ mi’ Signore, Praise be to you, my Lord,” the refrain which introduces the poem and each subsequent verse. Pope Francis manages to quote most of the text at one point or another throughout the encyclical (see also: §LS 87; 91). The second “holy influence” is harder to detect, since he is never mentioned by name, and yet his influence is as unmistakable as it is constitutive of the theology throughout, and that is St. Augustine."
Read the article here.