SUSTAINABILITY AND POPE FRANCIS'S ENCYCLICAL 'LAUDATO SI' (2015) THE ROLE OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES

Pope Francis's 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si. addresses the environment directly and the many philosophical, theological, and cultural causes that threaten the relationships of man to nature and man to each other in various circumstances. It brings a new emphasis to the relationship between Mankind and Nature and it makes clear that interdependence obliges us to think of one world with a common plan to deal with serious environmental and social problems worldwide. A global consensus is needed and unilateral actions on the part of individual countries are not enough to solve these common issues. This article aims to identify real organizations and strategies that contribute to the fulfilment of these highly relevant objectives. Framed on Stakeholder, Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Social Enterprises theories, an analysis of academic works and case studies is performed. Social Enterprises are studied focusing on the strategies and the social and economic impact of this form of, hybrids. organization. Social Enterprises have been an expression of the civil sector response to local and global challenges, in line with Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato Si., by using their resources to pursue opportunities that catalyse social change and/or address social needs. The results of this exploratory research support the propositions that Social Enterprises can contribute to the achievement of Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato Si. objectives of a global and collaborative dialogue and actions to deal both with the planet environment and poverty concerns, aiming for an improved quality of human life and a more inclusive and equal society. Enduring social and economic impacts of Social Enterprises can be achieved by: (a) the availability to turn assets that are an apparent disadvantage for generalist work into specialists. roles and (b) the use of a special type of innovation (sometimes called frugal innovation). This research follows a mixed methodology approach with literature review and multiple case studies used to confirm with replication logic, conceptual insights. The data, success stories and conclusions are in support of the presented propositions.