Thoughts of a collapsed catholic environmentalist on Pope Francis’s Encyclical Letter LaudatoSi‘ of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home
This encyclical should be read as connected to previous encyclicals and statements, Pope Benedict’s ‘If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation’, for the celebration of the world day of peace, 1 Jan 2010. It is the latest link in a long chain of Christian stewardship thinking about human relations to and conceptions of the more than human world upon which we depend. The earth, its creatures, entities and processes are ‘Gods creation’ – not humanity’s – and rather than the arrogant anthropocentric claim on domination over the earth, we are tasked with looking after, tending, husbanding creation. Rather than the earth being made for us, we in fact have been made (by God) for the earth, which is not only God’s creation but our home.
There is much to welcome here, on the one level its beautifully written love letter to the earth, admitting our abuse of it, asking *indirectly) for forgiveness as part of our desire for reconciliation with one another and the earth. A great part of the strength of this extraordinary letter is that one can understand, accept and agree with it without a belief in God or being a Catholic. Of course on its own terms the document is a religious one, a Catholic one and in particular expresses the distinctive religious worldview of St Francis of Assisi
It urges humanity to respect nature and humility in celebrating and using our technological and scientific prowess, to see limits (including self-imposed limits, as well as ecological ones) as a constitutive part of what it means to be human and free. We are invited to balance our existential need to view the world as a collection of means for meeting our ends, with not forgetting the earth is also a realm of meaning, of moral and spiritual significance. One of the key themes running throughout the letter is that while the immediate causes of the ecological crisis are economic, technological, the ultimate roots are ethical and spiritual, or at least repairing the earth and our relationship to the earth must have a spiritual dimension. Ultimately what we need to control is not the earth, but rather our relationship to the earth. And we can begin that task by recognising both that it is God’s creation and that we depend on it for everything. Therefore the appropriate attitude to that which we have not made (whether by God or evolutionary and natural processes), but upon which we utterly depend (and therefore are vulnerable to) is one of respect and care, not arrogant assertions of domination.
There is a powerful eroticism (in the ancient Greek sense of ‘life affirming’) in this letter, standing in contrast to Thanatos (the death instinct, the impulse to render living entities as lifeless and therefore meaningless). This life affirming injunction comes through in its Franciscan celebration of the beauty and existence of even the most seemingly insignificant creature (here I am reminded of William Blake’s line ‘to see eternity in a grain of sand’). It also is evident in the constant focus on the plight of the poor (and its anti-abortion stance), and the argument that the fruits of human work on the non-human world should be shared more equitably. Speaking of work or labour the encyclical rescues it from the negative characterisation of it being ‘Adam’s curse’, i.e. punishment for disobeying God in the Garden of Eden. The letter speaks of the dignity of work but also the necessity of work for a good human life, and cautions against the temptation to use technology to eradicate the need for humans to labour (though presumably this is compatible with using technology to rid ourselves of undignified, dangerous and arduous forms of work).
I read the encyclical (which I approached and read more as a love poem than a letter, or if it’s a letter, it’s a love letter) in part reminded of the deep ecological practice of listening to the suffering of both the human and the non-human world, acknowledging our responsibility for that suffering, asking forgiveness and moving towards repairing the damage and seeking reconciliation with the ultimate ‘intimate other’ that is the more than human world. The human condition is such that we are both ‘part of’ and ‘apart from’ the world. Here W.B. Yeats’s closing stanza from his poem Among School Children seems appropriate to also express this way of looking at the world and ourselves expressed in the Pope’s poem (one poem speaking to and illuminating the other as it were)
Labour is blossoming or dancing where
The body is not bruised to pleasure soul.
Nor beauty born out of its own despair,
Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil.
O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossomorthebole?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?
Is this not what sustainability is, to live in harmony with the world, with one another, with oneself? Just as we need new stories to live by, not least to honour and repair our storied residence in, on and with our common home, we also need new songs, so that we don’t stand at such an acute angle to the world. To conclude these poetic musings on reading Laudato Si‘, the famous lines of T.S. Elliot’s poem Little Giddingcome to mind in summing up my reading of this spiritual prose poem in terms of what it’s inviting us to consider in thinking about the earth, our common home.
‘We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time’
John Barry, Munich July 8th 2014
Pope Francis (2015),Encyclical Letter Laudato Si‘ of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home, available at (accessed 19/6/15).
“A certain way of understanding human life and activity has gone awry, to the serious detriment of the world around us. Should we not pause and consider this? At this stage, I propose that we focus on the dominant technocratic paradigm and the place of human beings and of human action in the world” (75)
106 = “Human beings and material objects no longer extend a friendly hand to one another; the relationship has become confrontational. This has made it easy to accept the idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology. It is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth’s goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry beyond every limit.” (79)
Dominance of the technocentric paradigm and loss of autonomy and freedom = promotion and support for cooperatives and non-consumerist lifestyles
Criticism of growthmania and lack of concern with needs of the poor and future generations
Calls for a ‘cultural revolution’ =wow!
Criticises anthropocentrism ,Prometheanism and human arrogance
118 – “There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature without a renewal of humanity itself. There can be no ecology without an adequate anthropology.”
Links protection of nature to anti-abortion
Dignified life through work central to a sustainable economy
It’s a moral, scientifically informed critique of growth, capitalism and the fetishisation of the market and unbridled, unregulated globalisation
Our crisis is both social and environmental and economic , all interconnected and not separate
Critique of the standardisation and cultural homogenisation imposed by consumer capitalism and economic growth
An embracing ofembodiment an corporeality
155 - “It is enough to recognize that our body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings. The acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology”.
Promotion of he common good as essential to integral ecological vision
If we keep going the way we’re going, we’ll get to where we’re headed:
161- “The pace of consumption, waste andenvironmental change has so stretched the planet’s capacity that our contemporary lifestyle,unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes, such as those which even nowperiodically occur in different areas of the world.“
165 – decarbonisationasap“We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas – needs to be progressively replaced without delay”
Defence of the global commons
178. “A politics concerned with immediate results, supported by consumerist sectors of the population, is driven to produce short-term growth. In response to electoral interests, governments are reluctant to upset the public with measures which could affect the level of consumption orcreate risks for foreign investment. The myopia of power politics delays the inclusion of a farsighted environmental agenda within the overall agenda of governments.”
Support for act locally, local efforts to build sustainability despite failure at national and international levels
A vision/outline of an embodied and embedded economy – social and ecological embeddedness as well as corporeal embodiedness
189 – critique of dominance of the financial sector, and need for political and economic activity to be in the service of the erotic, of life
“The financial crisis of 2007-08 provided an opportunity to develop a new economy, more attentive to ethical principles, and new ways of regulating
speculative financial practices and virtual wealth. But the response to the crisis did not include rethinking the outdated criteria which continue to rule the world”.
193 – support for degrowth and selective degrowth in advanced economies
“In any event, if in some cases sustainable development were to involve new forms of growth, then in other cases, given the insatiable and irresponsible growth produced over many decades, we need also to think of containing growth by setting some reasonable limits and even retracing our steps before it is too late. We know how unsustainable is the behaviour of those who constantly consume and destroy, while others are not yet able to live in a way worthy of their human dignity. That is why the time has come to accept decreased growth in some parts of the world, in order to provide resources for other places to experience healthy growth. Benedict XVI has said that technologically advanced societies must be prepared to encourage more sober lifestyles, while reducing their energy consumption and improving its efficiency”
194 – “Put simply, it is a matter of redefining our notion of progress. A technological and economic development which does not leave in its wake a better world and an integrally higher quality of life cannot be considered progress. Frequently, in fact, people’s quality of life actually diminishes – by the deterioration of the environment, the low quality of food or the depletion of resources – in the midst of economic growth. In this context, talk of sustainable growth usually becomes a way of distracting attention and offering excuses. It absorbs the language and values of ecology into the categories of finance and technocracy, and the social and environmental responsibility of businesses often gets reduced to a series of marketing and image-enhancing measures” (emphasis added)
Critique of consumerism
203 – “Since the market tends to promote extreme consumerism in an effort to sell its products, people can easily get caught up in a whirlwind of needless buying and sp ending. Compulsive consumerism is one example of how the techno-economic paradigm affects individuals” and 209 –
“Many people know that our current progress and the mere amassing of things and pleasures are not enough to give meaning and joy to the human heart, yet they feel unable to giveup what the market sets before them”.
And 222
“Christian spirituality proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life, andencourages a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of theobsession with consumption. We need to take up an ancient lesson, found in different religioustraditions and also in the Bible. It is the conviction that “less is more””. (emphasis added)
211 – the need for ecological virtues ! “Only by cultivating sound virtues will people be able to make a selfless ecological commitment”
213 – gratitude and experience and practising of gratitude within the family = new habits/virtues of being grateful and thankful
Support for vivirbien? Contemplative, experiential life not one cluttered by possessions and desire of that which one lacks - see 223
231. “Love, overflowing with small gestures of mutual care, is also civic and political, and it makes itself felt in every action that seeks to build a better world. Love for society and commitment to the common good are outstanding expressions of a charity which affects not only relationshipsbetween individuals but also “macro-relationships, social, economic and political ones”.
“Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth”
Enlighten those who possess power and money
that they may avoid the sin of indifference,
that they may love the common good, advance the weak,
and care for this world in which we live.