Integral Ecology in Brazil: The Prophetic Case of the 2025 Fraternity Campaign Ahead of COP30

Abstract

This article adopts an empirical and first-person narrative approach to theological thought on integral ecology based on bibliographical research and lived experience. Using as a case study the 2025 Fraternity Campaign promoted by the National Conference of Bishops, I provide contextual background for people outside Brazil to understand the history and theology behind the campaign, what the campaign is, and how it was possible for its theme to be on integral ecology. Through the grassroots voices of religious leaders from different parts of the Amazon region in Brazil, I present some of the advances and limitations of the campaign and how it summons the local Church to better address climate and socioenvironmental justice. As a result, I aim to present the complex reality of the prophetic social dimension of the Roman Catholic Church in Brazil, the dangers it entails, and how to sustain hope and action ahead and beyond COP30.