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IS POPE FRANCIS ALSO A PROPHET?

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On June 13 of this year, Papa Franciscus (Better known as Pope Francis) sent a letter  (encyclical) asking each of us who share Planet Earth to attend to its deteriorating condition; discuss it among ourselves; and make decisions about how to maintain it.  Acknowledging that only about a third of humans claim to be Christians and about half of Christians are Catholic; he crafted his letter to speak to all of us about caring for the Earth – and ultimately about caring for each other.

Francis described Creation – our planet and our universe – as a gift to mankind that we will pass on to successive generations.  Using biblical language, he pointed out that, “…the Genesis account which grants man ‘dominion over the earth’…” does not warrant “the unbridled exploitation of nature…”

The letter points out the interconnectedness of mankind with all living things and cites examples of environmental problems that affect us today including:

  • reduced availability of seafood from oceans polluted by agricultural and manufacturing waste;
  • wars over safe drinking water, and
  • international borders that are practically and perhaps morally indefensible as hordes of human refugees violate them in search of safe places to survive.

Francis urges us to “…acknowledge our responsibility to…till and keep…the garden of the world…Keeping means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving.   Each community can take from the bounty of the earth whatever it needs for subsistence, but it also has the duty to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations…Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it…We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.”

This Pope does not claim to have all the answers to our problems.  Instead, he urges us to behave as a family of mankind by talking to each other and accepting responsibility to care for the Creation that we have inherited.  There are things we can do as individuals and families:  Reduce food waste.  Don’t drive where you can walk.  Turn off the lights.  Adjust the thermostat.  But Francis points out the need for laws, regulations and voluntary practices around the whole world.  Wealthy nations produce the most pollution per person but the effects of man-made drought, climate change and famine are most severe in poor nations.  Corporations, many of them international, pollute poor nations in ways that would be unacceptable to wealthy nations.  The consequences of that will be felt around the world, gradually but inevitably.

To prevent horrific pollution and climate change, the notion of “common good” must extend to future generations.  We are obviously responsible across the whole of Earth’s geography; and we are also responsible across the whole of Earth’s time – for the Creation that we bequeath to all living things of the future.

A financial failure is accompanied by the opportunity to declare bankruptcy and begin again with a clean slate.  There will be no such opportunity after environmental bankruptcy.  Our interconnectedness means that failure to care for creation will haunt the future of all species in all nations.

The warnings of prophets can be ignored.  In a biblical example, the story in Genesis doesn’t make clear why Sodom was destroyed. Later on, the Prophet Ezekiel warned haughty Jerusalem, attributing this statement to God, “…this was the guilt of your sister, Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, surfeit of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy…therefore I removed them when I saw it.”  It didn’t turn out any better for Jerusalem than it did for Sodom.  Francis has delivered a warning that is equally clear.

The Pope’s letter asks that we study and consider our situation then act with mercy for the poor, the defenseless, and future generations.  His appeal is not addressed to the leaders of governments and corporations.  They will change only if humanity demands it.  So the Pope has appealed to you and to me to read his letter and make up our own minds.  Who will accept his invitation to study and discuss and act?  (To read the encyclical, click here.)

2 thoughts on “IS POPE FRANCIS ALSO A PROPHET?”

  1. Pope Francis has authored a most unusual encyclical, one intended not just for Catholics, or for Christians only.

    At times it seems to be a disjointed set of thoughts across a wide gamut of topics. But that is what it must be. By so doing, Francis challenges us to engage in ‘systems thinking’ and to see the linkages between everything on Earth. It is after all a planet upon which living organisms emerged in conditions much harsher than we have created with our global culture. Since then, life has played a leading role in shaping changes on our home planet. Reductionism has served science well in understanding the physics of the tiny and in developing modern medicine. But reductionism has also lost sight of how everything fits together.

    I hear echoes of other concerned and hopeful voices in his message: Black Elk, Aldo Leopold, David Suzuki, Namoi Oreskes, E. O. Wilson, Richard Wilkinson and countless others. The Pope adds to an increased awareness and concern about our future. He, as others offers hope, but it is a hope tempered with the possibility of failure.

    An old adage suggests that leadership is finding a parade to step in front of. There may not be a parade just yet, but Pope Francis could help to unite the growing number of people concerned with Earth ecology and convince even more to join them.

    One theme that runs through the encyclical is the failure of consumerism and capitalism to live up to their promises to make us all happier, healthier and to solve all of our problems. As Francis suggests, market fundamentalism has overwhelmed all aspects of our global culture. It will take either the rejection of market fundamentalism or its collapse for us to meet our present challenges.

    There are only muted calls for sacrifice in the encyclical. Those calls were rightly coupled with the promise that such sacrifices will bring greater life satisfaction. Let us hope that politicians will soon be asking for the same kinds of sacrifice.

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