On Pilgrimage with the Wolf and the Wild Forest Creature: Lessons for the Climate Movement
As pilgrims around the world gathered at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, two surprising guides walked beside us: the wolf of Gubbio, friend of St. Francis, and the Curupira, the fierce forest guardian of the Amazon. Their stories of wild ways, similar yet different, invite us to imagine new ways of caring for our common home at a moment when the world urgently needs courage, clarity and commitment.
In “Laudato Si’” (2015), Pope Francis invoked the spirituality of his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, who saw every creature as a sibling joined by bonds of affection. That loving kinship is strained today as “Sister Mother Earth” faces relentless assault from extractive industries, deforestation, pollution and hyper-consumption—all driving the accelerating climate crisis. Eight years later, the pope wrote Laudate Deum, warning bluntly that global responses have been “not adequate” and calling for a renewed effort to defend the Earth.
Pope Leo now carries forward this mission, committing the Catholic Church to ongoing care for creation. The icon of his silent prayer over a chunk of melting glacier at the recent “Raising Hope” conference is an unforgettable sign of that enduring commitment.
Creation flourishes when relationships are honored.
A Wolf Who Teaches Peace
The medieval tale of St. Francis and the wolf of Gubbio offers a vision of peaceful coexistence that resonates with contemporary ecology. The wolf was feared as a destroyer, terrorizing villagers and devouring livestock. Yet St. Francis approached him without fear, calling him “Brother Wolf,” recognizing the creature’s ferocity not as moral failing but as the desperation of hunger. A covenant arose: the people would feed the wolf, and the wolf would keep the peace.
This story reveals key insights at the heart of Laudato Si’. Our lives are interwoven with those of other creatures, who possess their own dignity, value and purpose in the great symphony of creation. When we recognize the needs of others—animal, human, ecological—peace becomes possible. Creation flourishes when relationships are honored.
A Forest Creature Who Teaches Defense
Across the world, in the Amazon rainforest, a different kind of guide emerges: the Curupira, a mythic protector with backward feet and a piercing whistle that bewilders intruders. Unlike the wolf who became tamed, the Curupira embodies resistance. She misleads hunters, attacks those who harm the forest, and haunts anyone who seeks to exploit the land. Her ferocity is not aggression for its own sake—it is defense against the violence of deforestation, fires and illegal logging.
For Indigenous peoples like the Borari of Maró, whose leader Chief Dadá has faced beatings and threats for defending his territory, the Curupira symbolizes a vigilance the modern world desperately needs. As colonial patterns of extraction persist in new forms—agribusiness, mining, land grabs—Indigenous defenders continue to pay with their lives. At least 196 environmental activists were killed in 2023 alone, and the fate of far more is unknown.
In this context, the Curupira’s unsettling presence is a warning: the forest is alive, and it will not surrender quietly.
Integral Ecology Requires Both Peace and Fierce Love
At first glance, the wolf and the Curupira seem at odds—one reconciles, the other keeps a wary watch. Yet in today’s ecological crisis, both are essential.
St. Francis and Brother Wolf model healing relationships, kinship and compassion.
The Curupira models resistance, boundary-setting and fierce protection.
True peace cannot exist while forests burn, species vanish and communities suffer. As Pope Francis insists in Laudate Deum, climate commitments must be efficient, obligatory and readily monitored. Diplomacy itself must be drastic, intense and committed. In other words: gentle intentions are no longer enough. The wolf needs to be fed, but the Curupira must also stand guard.
Gentle intentions are no longer enough. The wolf needs to be fed, but the Curupira must also stand guard.
Indigenous Wisdom and Christian Imagination Converge
The 2019 Synod on the Amazon affirmed Indigenous peoples as teachers of an ecological spirituality grounded in relationship—with the land, water, creatures and the divine. Their stories, myths and lifeways help expand Catholic teaching on integral ecology, deepening our understanding of creaturely interdependence and the sacredness of the land.
The meeting between Chief Dadá and Pope Francis at that time captured this convergence. Sharing the Surara warrior dance, they affirmed a shared mission: “We are warriors.” Warriors not of violence, but stalwart defenders with watchfulness and moral clarity—defenders of life, justice and the beauty of creation.
Walking Toward Belém
As COP30 left basic questions unanswered. Will nations finally commit to a real transition away from fossil fuels? And if so, when? Will promises to end deforestation by 2030 be kept—or quietly forgotten? Will Indigenous rights be respected as essential to planetary survival?
The wolf and the Curupira remind us of what is required:
Kinship, so we care for all beings as family.
Defense, so we protect what is sacred from those who would destroy it.
Courage, so we demand accountability and refuse deceptive promises.
Hope, fierce and determined, that fuels real transformation.
The Amazon is suffering. Forests around the Earth are burning. The Earth is crying out. And so, the wild ones are still calling us—St. Francis’s wolf, the Curupira, and the countless other historic and mythic figures known to the world’s cultures who are defenders of the Earth—urging us to become unrelenting guardians of our common home.
As pilgrims of conscience wherever we are, may we answer that call with all the strength, love, and defender-spirit this moment demands.
