March 13 is the 10th anniversary of the election of Pope Francis. In this episode we explore the threads of the pope's identity—the first Latin American pope, the first Jesuit pope, the first pope named Francis—and unpack what they mean for his leadership of the Catholic Church.

In Just Politics' first interview with a Vatican official, Emilce Cuda, a lay woman theologian from the pope's home country of Argentina and co-secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, shares her perspective on the richness of integral ecology, the pope's teaching on the interconnectedness of all creation. This is most famously realized in Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical letter Laudato Si' (On Care for Our Common Home), but he has also applied it to other areas such as politics and all human relationships.

In this episode, we also hear from School Sister of St. Francis Maureen Jerkowski, Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Mary Catherine Rice, and Brenna Davis, director of integral ecology at the Ignatian Solidarity Network, to unpack how this teaching challenges people in the United States today. The conversation draws on their respective work in justice for immigrants, climate justice, racial justice, economic justice, and the links between them.

You can learn more about our guests, integral ecology, and Pope Francis in the links below.

More background on Emilce Cuda https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/meet-emilce-cuda-pope-francis-catholic-social-teaching-expert-vatican

Read how to get involved in the Laudato Si' Action Platform https://laudatosiactionplatform.org/

Learn more about the Ignatian Solidarity Network https://ignatiansolidarity.net/

Catholic Sisters Week is March 8-14 https://catholicsistersweek.org/

Pope Francis' encyclical on integral ecology, Laudato Si' (On Care for Our Common Home) https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Just Politics is sponsored by St. Jude League Community Development. https://stjudeleague.org/