In Sumatra, Indonesian Capuchins put Laudato Si’ into practice

Residents in the affected regions argue that decades of deforestation and industrial activity linked to the pulp, palm oil and mining sectors intensified the destruction by stripping hillsides of trees, draining natural buffers and disrupting river paths, leaving rainwater with nowhere to go. When Cyclone Senyar arrived, the land was less able to absorb heavy rainfall, rivers overflowed more quickly and slopes gave way more easily, exposing communities to flooding and landslides that might otherwise have been less severe.

Aleteia spoke with Fr Supriyadi Pardosi, OFMCap, of the Franciscan Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office (JPIC) in the Archdiocese of Medan, North Sumatra. For Pardosi and other Capuchin friars working in the region, the disaster revealed more than the scale of the emergency. It exposed the human cost of long-term environmental damage.

“When I went to the disaster site,” Pardosi said, “I believed, even though none of us expected it, God was helping us in our struggle to call for care for nature and the environment through this event.” The floods, he explained, confirmed what the friars had observed for years: environmental harm and human suffering unfolding together.

That conviction echoes the central insight of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on care for creation. Described as an environmental text, the document rests on a relational vision of human life. It explains that damage to forests, rivers and soil inevitably harms people, especially the poor and vulnerable. Pope Francis calls this “integral ecology”, a way of recognising that social injustice and ecological damage are inseparable and demand moral responsibility.

In Sumatra, that vision has taken concrete form. The JPIC office led by the Capuchins, have consistently spoken out against the growing environmental exploitation in Sumatra, stressing the need to protect the rights of indigenous communities and to preserve natural ecosystems.

The Capuchin order also organized and spearheaded large public demonstrations in June 2025, which intensified after the November floods. With strong public support, the friars directed their appeals towards regional government agencies, calling for accountability and the closure of PT Toba Pulp Lestari, a pulp firm long criticized by local communities for deforestation and its impact on rural life in areas surrounding its operations. Pardosi also pointed to a pattern of recurring floods near Harian–Samosir in November 2023, Simallopuk in December 2023 and Parapat in March 2025, all of which lie close to sites where the company operates, and all of which experienced flooding before Cyclone Senyar struck.

For some Catholics, environmental advocacy raises concerns about politics. Pardosi does not dismiss those worries. “I don’t deny that,” he said, acknowledging the role of government permits and corporate interests. “But that’s not where my friends and I focus. As a member of the Catholic Church and a Franciscan, I cannot remain silent about this environmental destruction.”

He anchors his motivation firmly in faith. “I am not driven by anyone, except by ideologies and beliefs born and shaped by the Gospel,” he said. For Pardosi, St Francis of Assisi offers not a model of protest for its own sake, but of deep attentiveness to creation rooted in love for Christ. “Through his life,” he added, “St Francis of Assisi poured out the richness and depth of the Gospel that Christ brought to the world.”

Living alongside communities affected by recent flooding and displacement has reshaped how Pardosi understands care for creation. “All of us are God’s creations, inseparable from one another,” he said. Drawing on Franciscan spirituality, he described humans not as masters of the earth but as its most dependent members. “We are the lowest and poorest of God’s creatures. We are the most vulnerable. Therefore, we should be at the forefront of loving and caring for the rest of creation.”

That understanding flows directly from the Capuchin charism, “our spirit of poverty, closeness and simplicity certainly stems from the spirit of the Gospel,” Pardosi said. “We are not the first and greatest of creation, but rather the opposite. So, in that spirit, we are servants of other creatures. We are not their masters.” From this perspective, the exploitation of land and resources stands not only as irresponsible, but as a denial of human vocation itself.

Speaking out has not come without cost. Pardosi acknowledged that fellow Catholics, including priests, have warned him about criticism and risk. Yet he sees silence as the greater danger. “If, because many Catholics feel overwhelmed by this crisis, I should remain silent and not fight for the environment,” he said, “I would be contributing to the damage that has occurred.”

His resolve draws from several sources: faith, the Franciscan tradition and his cultural roots as a Toba Batak (an Austronesian ethnic group) shaped by respect for land and life. That outlook shapes his daily life. “Wherever I am,” he said, “even as a priest, I always farm, stay close to animals and always greet and appreciate them.”

On January 21 2025, one of the central demands raised by the Capuchins, the closure or licence revocation of Toba Pulp Lestari, was fulfilled, though no conclusive court conviction has followed and questions of legal accountability remain unresolved. Authorities have also revoked permits for 27 additional companies linked to environmental violations, placing the land they occupied under government management. For the Capuchins, these developments matter, but they do not define success. What matters more is sustained attention and moral clarity, especially when outcomes remain partial and victories incomplete, and when the work of accompanying communities and protecting fragile land continues long after formal decisions are made.