Saturday, July 25, 2015

The Pope's Encyclical

This week I read the pope's encyclical letter Laudato Si’, "on care for our common home" -- the first papal encyclical on the environment. I was interested above all to see whether he offered a "line". This is because, so often, the beginning and the end of reasons to respond to the problems of the environment is alarm, with little systematic thought. The pope does in fact have some deeper things to say, even if he does not develop them far: for instance, the inter-dependence of the creation, the goal of all living things, and the character of creation as a "gift", rather than something to be controlled. OBSERVATION: Whatever one says about the encyclical, it shows that the pope is "switched on". (Part of my own interest: I wrote a chapter on the Environment, published by the Society).

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