Pope Francis Calls on “All People of Good Will” to Care for
Creation
At a time when the influence of
institutional religion is waning in many part of the world, Pope Francis
remains one of the most trusted and popular people on Earth. Leader of an
estimated 1.2 billion Catholics across the world, Francis has put the weight of
his authority squarely behind a global call to action to stop what he calls “the
ecological crisis” we all now face.
Typically, a Papal Encyclical issued
by the Pope is a top-level teaching document addressed to Catholics. In recent
decades encyclicals have been addressed to “all people of goodwill,” and
Francis’ latest Laudato Si (Blessed
Be) is one such document.
“This encyclical is aimed at everyone” the Pope said before the Encyclical’s release. “Let us pray that everyone can receive its message and grow in responsibility toward the common home that God has entrusted to us.”
Pope Francis consulted for
months with a range of leading experts on environmental and climate issues,
many from the Pontifical Academy of Sciences which includes
80 of the world’s top scientists from 36 countries.
The Pontiff himself studied
chemistry, holding a “título” in chemistry, he worked for a time as a chemist before
entering the seminary. The term “titulo” refers to a “secondary” degree but is
not the level of a Master’s degree widely reported in the press earlier this
month. Not that it matters that much, since his job as a moral leader is to
interpret into moral and ethical terms what the research from expert scientists
reveal.
One of the leading scientific
experts consulting with Pope Francis is Hans Joachim Schellnhuber,
founder and head of the Potsdam Institute for Climate
Impact Research and chief environmental advisor to German
Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Raised as a Lutheran in a small
German town, Schellnhuber praised Pope Francis’ desire to reach beyond his
Catholic followers. In an interview with the New York Times,
Schellnhuber
spoke of the “hard lesson” scientists have learned as they’ve worked to
communicate the “facts and data” about global warming. The current climate change narrative has “not been
enough to move the public to action,” Schellnhuber said. These issues
“have become so serious that only a broad moral awakening can offer hope of
solving them.”
“We have pushed the planet into a major environmental crisis, so creation is at stake,” Dr. Schellnhuber said.
For the most part, Pope Francis
aligned himself with the scientific consensus that recent global warming is
caused by human activity, principally from burning fossil fuels and
deforestation. He maintained that natural causes, such as volcanoes and solar
irradiation have had some impact on recent climate change, attributing “most”
global warming from human activity.
To this point some
climatologists take issue. Michael Mann, a leading climate scientists and
researcher from Pennsylvania State University, said that solar changes and
volcanoes have actually “counteracted” global warming.
“Human activity is most likely responsible not just for ‘most global warming’ but all of it,” said Dr. Mann. “And then some, because natural factors have been acting slightly in the other direction.”
But in all, Pope Francis laid a
meticulous scientific framework for his moral call to stem the destruction
of the planet, urging all people, in particular the world’s most privileged, to reconsider their relationship with nature.
Pope Francis Climate Encyclical – some main points
Among the encyclical’s key points:
Climate change is real, it’s
impacts are already clearly visible, and has dire consequences if left unabated “Each year sees the disappearance of thousands of
plant and animal species which we will never know, which our children will
never see, because they have been lost forever. Climate change is global
problem with grave implications: environmental, social, political and the
distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing
humanity in our day”
Poor nations least responsible for global warming suffer some of
the worst consequences
“The warming caused by huge consumption on the part of some rich countries has repercussions on the poorest areas of the world, especially Africa, where a rise in temperature, together with drought, has proved devastating for farming. There is also damage caused by the export of solid waste and toxic liquids to developing countries, and by the pollution produced by companies which operate in less developed countries in ways they could never do at home.”
Many Christians misinterpret scripture in regard to their
relationship with nature
Christians “must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures. ”The creation accounts in the book of Genesis contain, in their own symbolic and narrative language, profound teachings about human existence and its historical reality. They suggest that human life is grounded in three fundamental and closely intertwined relationships: with God, with our neighbor and with the Earth itself.””It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment.”
Access to safe water is a human right, not a commodity
“Even as the quality of available water is constantly diminishing, in some places there is a growing tendency, despite its scarcity, to privatize this resource, turning it into a commodity subject to the laws of the market. Yet access to safe, drinkable water is a basic and universal human right.”
Consumerism run amok is not sustainable
“People may well have a growing ecological sensitivity but it has not succeeded in changing their harmful habits of consumption which, rather than decreasing, appear to be growing all the more.”
Undoubtedly, the Pope’s
Encyclical makes many conservatives in the U.S., Catholic and non-Catholic
alike,uncomfortable.
Taking the moral high ground from one of the most popular spiritual
leaders on the planet will prove difficult. As it should.
Moral leadership on climate
change and environmental stewardship from all faith traditions is sorely
needed.
Read the full Encyclical On Care for our Common Home