The Vatican’s decree issuing the new formulary of the Missa pro custodia creationis (Mass for the Care of Creation), is an important pastoral resource to support the celebrations of “Creation Day” on September 1, 2025, also known as the “Feast of Creation” or “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.”
After three decades of ever-growing grassroots celebrations of Creation Day, many voices have called for a more intentional celebration of this observance. There is a deep thirst in the people of God to celebrate the gift of Creation, and God as Creator, in the liturgy. This new “Creation Mass” is a positive first step to enable that. In fact, many Christian denominations are already taking steps towards liturgical celebrations of these observances, inspired by Creation Day’s ancient liturgical roots in the Eastern Church. This new Mass formulary is a small but useful first step in that direction for us Catholics as well.
Now we are waiting for the liturgy commissions of episcopal conferences to translate this new Latin formulary into various other languages. At present, the Mass parts are available in Latin, Italian, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German, while the Liturgy of the Word is only available in Latin and Italian. Here is the website with the new decree and links to the Mass parts and readings:
It is worth noting that, given the timing of this announcement, the majority of episcopal conferences will likely take more than two months to do the translations and get them approved by their various internal and Vatican authorities before publishing the official liturgical texts. Therefore, in most countries, this new Mass will likely become available at a later date.
In the meantime, Creation Day can still be celebrated with other prayers and pastoral resources. See (in English): “Ideas to celebrate Creation Day.”
