Pope Francis’ 2nd encyclical released (includes link to full text)

June 18, 2015

The Holy See has published the text of Pope Francis’s second encyclical letter, Laudato Si’, subtitled “on care of our common home.”

The encyclical, dated May 24 (Pentecost Sunday) and released June 18, has 246 paragraphs and six chapters: “What is happening to our common home,” “The Gospel of creation,” “The human roots of the ecological crisis,” “Integral ecology,” “Lines of approach and action,” and “Ecological education and spirituality.”

The encyclical begins:

“LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord.” In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs.”

This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. 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. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.

“In its relationship with the environment, humanity is faced with a crucial challenge that requires the development of adequate policies which, moreover, are currently being discussed on the global agenda,” Cardinal Peter Turkson, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said at the press conference at which the encyclical was presented.

“Certainly Laudato Si’ can and must have an impact on important and urgent decisions to be made in this area,” he added. “However, the magisterial, pastoral and spiritual dimensions of the document must not be put in second place. Its value, breadth and depth cannot be reduced to the mere scope of determining environmental policies.”

At the press conference, Orthodox Archbishop John Zizioulas of Pergamon, representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, paid tribute to the encyclical’s “richness of theological thought and spirituality” and described the publication of the document as “an occasion of great joy and satisfaction for the Orthodox.”

“On behalf of them I should like to express our deep gratitude to His Holiness for raising his authoritative voice to draw the attention of the world to the urgent need to protect God’s creation from the damage we humans inflict on it with our behavior towards nature,” he said. “This encyclical comes at a critical moment in human history and will undoubtedly have a worldwide effect on people’s consciousness.”

“Pope Francis’s encyclical is a call to unity – unity in prayer for the environment, in the same Gospel of creation, in the conversion of our hearts and our lifestyles to respect and love everyone and everything given to us by God,” he added. “We are thankful for that.”

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and chairman of the German Advisory Council on Global Change, then discussed changes to the earth’s climate.

“The care for our planet therefore does not have to evolve into a tragedy of the commons” he concluded. “It may well turn into a story of a great transformation in which the opportunity was seized to overcome the profound inequalities. These disparities arose from the geological coincidence of regional fossil fuel distribution controlled by the few and the concomitant exploitation. Today, the implications of our actions and the pathways are clear. It is solely a question of what future we choose to believe in and to pursue.”

Toward the conclusion of the press conference, Carolyn Woo, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, offered “reflections for the business audience.”

“The message of this encyclical to the business world is a profoundly hopeful one as it sees the potential of business as a force for good whose actions can serve to mitigate and stop the cumulative, compounding, irreversible catastrophic effects of climate change driven by human actions,” she said.

She added:

At the end of the day, business is a human enterprise and must strive for true human development and the common good. In the years ahead, the challenges will be large. How can we develop the technologies so that we can move to a zero-carbon economy? How can we boost living standards of the developing world in a sustainable way and give all people the ability to live the lives God intended them to live? How can we make sure all have access to nutrition, energy, healthcare and education?

These are huge challenges, but we must face up to them. The answer lies with all working together — governments, international institutions, businesses, NGOS, and religions. It lies in forthright and honest debate and dialogue. But it begins in the call to ecological conversation outlined so clearly in this great encyclical.

Catholic World News will offer additional coverage of Laudato Si’ later in the day.

 

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Further information:

• Laudato Si’ (full text)
• Conferenza Stampa per la presentazione della Lettera Enciclica «Laudato si’» del Santo Padre Francesco sulla cura della casa comune (Holy See Press Office)