In Laudato Si’: On Care For Our Common Home, Pope Francis calls the world to rethink and transform the
“outdated criteria which continue to rule the world.”
From the first page, this
encyclical hooked me with its straightforward and direct language, occasionally
surprising me with its bluntness, such as when Francis described the world as
resembling a “pile of filth”, or criticized politicians for lacking
“breadth of vision.” Other times, the language is more poetic, particularly
when the pope praises the beauty of creation.
In Laudato Si’, Francis attempts to gather the thought of the universal church on the connection between the environment
and social issues. Not only does he refer to the teachings of his predecessors,
Francis makes numerous references to statements on the environment from
Catholic bishops’ conferences around the world. He also devotes several
paragraphs to the teaching of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Although it has been dubbed “the
climate change encyclical”, the discussion on climate change is only a small
portion of Laudato Si’. Those who
focus on the pope’s comments on climate change miss the point. This encyclical
is about three key relationships – humanity’s relationship with God, with the
created world, and with one another – and it reflects on the problems existing
within the web of these relationships.
At the root of the environmental
crisis, says Francis, is a “misguided anthropocentrism” that places human
beings at the center. In our hubris, we have fallen prey to “unrestrained
delusions of grandeur”. We seek mastery over nature instead of respecting it as
a sacred gift. We are turning ““a magnificent book in which God speaks to us
and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness” into something
that “is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth”.
Francis talks about the
utilitarian mindset that leads us to treat others with disregard, valuing them
only in so far as they are useful to us. We are more interested in convenience
and consumption, economics and power than in the intrinsic dignity of the human
person and nature. In the theology of this encyclical, our lifestyle and
mindset blind us to the destruction of the environment and deafen us to the
cries of the poor.
Francis cautions that if we continue
to see ourselves as independent from others and as separate from nature, our
attempts to heal the environment will be piecemeal at best. Healing the
environment requires healing the other two key relationships; “our relationship
with the environment can never be isolated from our relationship with others
and with God. Otherwise, it would be nothing more than romantic individualism
dressed up in ecological garb”. A
true ecological approach is therefore always a social approach; “it must
integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear
both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”.
Less we feel overwhelmed and
discouraged by the reality of the challenges facing humanity, the encyclical
offers hope. Human beings have the
capacity to transform the present environmental and social crisis, but it will
require a change of heart and attitude.
We will do well to heed an ancient lesson common in religious
traditions, ‘less is more’, and to
cultivate a spirit of moderation that is happy with fewer goods even if it is
contrary to today’s culture of consumption and waste.
From developing enforceable
international environmental polices to small individual actions, everyone has a
part to play in caring for our common home. We renew the social fabric, break down indifference, and
forge a shared identity, says Francis, when we promote the common good and
defend the environment. “Social
love moves us to devise larger strategies to halt environmental degradation and
to encourage a “culture of care” which permeates all of society.”
Laudato Si’ challenges us,
individually and collectively, to confront the environmental crisis and to
resolve the inequalities of human society. The future hangs in the balance of
our response.
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