Last week, Pope Francis released a landmark document that outlined the Catholic Church’s official position on climate change.
The papal encyclical, titled “On Care for Our Common Home,” made it clear to the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics – including at least three Republican climate change deniers running for President – that reducing greenhouse gas pollution is a moral necessity, not just a political or economic issue.
The poor, especially in Africa, suffer disproportionately from droughts, heat waves, flooding and famine caused by global warming. And the Pope wrote that the scientific evidence is clear: This warming is being driven by a culture of consumption in rich nations, including the United States.
“We have come to see ourselves as (the Earth’s) lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will,” Pope Francis wrote. “The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life.”
The implication is that denying the science – or doing nothing – is not just wrong. It’s a deadly sin. And the pope went beyond just the issue of climate change. He pointed to a wave of environmental problems being caused by over consumption, including deforestation, water shortages, and mass extinctions of animals and plants.
The Pope’s calls for restraint on runaway capitalism provoked some anger among Republicans.
“The most dangerous person on the planet is someone who’s seeking strange new respect from their adversaries. And that is what the pope is doing,” said FOX News pundit Greg Gutfeld. ”He doesn’t want to be your grandfather’s pope. He wants to be a modern pope. All he needs is dreadlocks and a dog with a bandanna and he could be on Occupy Wall Street.”
Environmentalists praised the pope’s leadership – and saw a potentially game-changing moment in the global climate debate. Some conservative Catholics who respect the church’s teachings might now open their minds to the reality of climate change – and the moral imperative to reduce pollution.
William Dinges, a professor of theology at Catholic University, said religion can penetrate where science cannot, in terms of influencing the voting public.
“Scientific facts move minds –or at least some minds. They don’t necessarily move hearts or legs,” said Dinges. “And my sense is that the Holy Father, by connecting the moral dots with these issues, this moral exhortation is capable of moving hearts and legs in a way that pure data, in and of itself, doesn’t necessarily do. So in that sense, I am certainly hopeful that this will lead to a kind of ecological conversion.”
In some ways, the language that Pope Francis uses in his encyclical is radical. But Jesus was radical, too – for example, suggesting to a follower that he sell all his possessions and give his money to the poor.
Pope Francis wrote that animals and plants are not natural resources for people to use and abuse, but rather deserve to be treated as if they are each a reflection of God’s wisdom and goodness. “The ultimate purpose of other creatures is not to be found in us,” he wrote.
Father Jacek Orzechowski , pastor of St. Camillus Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, said he plans to use the pope’s letter in his upcoming homilies. He will let his parish know that by making the Earth a healthy place to live, we are being generous to other people.
“The Holy Father kind of challenges people in this encyclical to realize and to embrace the dignity of every human person, and also the responsibility for our common home,” said the Rev. Orzechowski. “ So what is at stake right now is kind of the future of life on this planet.”
The Pope’s entry into the climate change debate sparked some controversy. But there is nothing controversial about the essence of what he is saying: Don’t trash your home. Be considerate of the common good. That message should not inspire anger in anyone with faith.
