CAMBRIDGE -- Linda J. Chase wanted to make sure that Pope Francis would like it.

Chase, a composer and professor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and the New England Conservatory, had recently completed "For Our Common Home: Resounding Ecojustice," an oratorio based on Pope Francis's 2015 encyclical "Laudato si'." While writing the piece, Chase was interviewed by a journalist from the National Catholic Reporter. The ensuing article attracted the attention of a priest from the Vatican. When Chase completed "For Our Common Home," she wrote to the priest, wanting to send her oratorio to Pope Francis and get his approval. The priest told her to send a CD to him and that he would make sure the pope heard it. A few weeks later, she got a letter and a rosary in the mail.

"I very much appreciated your work," the pope wrote to Chase, whom he addressed as "dear sister." "Thank you for your sensibility and commitment. The world constantly needs to be made aware of the importance of the care for our common home. Please continue with zeal, joy, and creativity."

"I was so touched by that," Chase said, adding, "It was an amazing blessing, I just can't even tell you, that I will always treasure."

On May 10, the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus will perform "For Our Common Home" at the university's Sanders Theater to mark the 10th anniversary of "Laudato Si'." With the death of Pope Francis weeks before the concert, the work has taken on new significance.

"I feel this great loss," Chase said. "Pope Francis was such a bright light and I feel like, also speaking as a person that's not Catholic, I feel that he reached out to everyone, and that's a really big deal."

The concert will be dedicated to his memory. Chase said that the music is a way of keeping Pope Francis's words alive and reminding people of his ministry.

"It's important for us to continue the words and the direction that Pope Francis gave us," she said.

"In my own humble way, I hope that we can be part of helping us remember the really important words that he gave us in 'Laudato Si'," she added.

Retired Harvard University theology professor Harvey Cox commissioned Chase to write the oratorio, and it was he who edited and curated Pope Francis's words for her to set to music.

"The first thing I did was to read 'Laudato Si',' and I fell in love with it," Chase said. "I was so inspired, and I've been very much an advocate for the environment and also feeling compassionate about people that have been most affected by the destruction that humans have done causing climate change and that kind of thing."

Chase wrote the oratorio throughout 2020. The pandemic, ongoing protests, and racial conflict reminded her of Pope Francis's words.

"He writes about so many people that are suffering," she said, "and so many species are suffering, and if we can feel that, then we can figure out what to do about it."

Cox directed her to sections of the text he felt she should highlight. In turn, she would read those sections and "take it to the piano."

"For Our Common Home" is a blend of various musical styles, including classical, jazz, gospel, and folk. Chase said that she used many genres to mirror the many issues that Pope Francis speaks about in "Laudato Si'." Some quotes from the encyclical, such as "Nature is a magnificent book in which God speaks to us," stood out to her.

"That really spoke to me because I love walking in the woods or the forest and being by the ocean," she said.

She wrote music meant to evoke the sounds of the forest. When she walks through a dark forest surrounded by tall trees, she thinks of a choir of angels singing.

"It's always interesting, the way composers set texts, and I think Linda has a very wide musical palette," said Edward Jones, choirmaster of Harvard's Memorial Church who will conduct the May 10 performance.

Jones often receives music in the mail, and when he received "For Our Common Home," he thought: "This one looks really interesting."

"I loved the libretto," he said, adding: "And when I started digging through it, I thought it was a powerful piece."

He said that the death of Pope Francis means that the work he did for peace, justice, and environmental stewardship can be highlighted even more by Chase's oratorio.

"I think it's a very timely work, not only because of the pope's passing but because of these questions, how we treat each other and how we treat the environment," he said.

In order to write a segment about climate refugees, Chase imagined people forced to leave their homes and travel great distances. Her music for these segments was inspired by the Jewish klezmer musical tradition, because the plight of climate refugees reminded her of the Israelites wandering through the desert in the Old Testament.

"When people are oppressed and still able to praise God and still able to have faith in moving ahead," she said.

The "earthy" rhythms of klezmer also appealed to her.

"Calling us back to the fact that our bodies are simply of the earth and that acknowledgement that we're just human," she said.