Should the Pope Talk About Politics?

by Michael Shackleton · December 26, 2016

In his encyclical Laudato Si’ Pope Francis presents global warming and modern technologies as having moral implications, which are therefore within his competence to write an encyclical of warning about. Critics say he should stick to religion and keep clear of remarks about science and economics. What is your comment, please? Henrietta

Popes issue encyclicals (circular letters) to bishops, clergy and the Church in general — and in the case of Laudato si’, to “every person living on the planet”. Their purpose is to clarify or affirm a teaching of the Church in conformity with divine revelation.

Pope Francis refers to the first two chapters of Genesis, in which God creates human beings and gives them dominion over all other creatures and the earth itself.

Quoting Genesis 2:15 where God tells Adam to “till and keep” the garden, Francis reminds us that tilling refers to cultivating, and keeping means preserving the earth. This entails a stewardship that we are abandoning today.

Humanity once tilled the soil and bred livestock in harmony with nature. There was a kind of mutual respect between the planet, its creatures and ourselves who are created from its very dust. The fruits of the earth were shared to the benefit of all.

Since the 19th century, traditional ways of production have been largely supplanted by new technologies and industrialisation. The encyclical makes the powerful point that our technological development has not been accompanied by a development in human responsibility, values and conscience.

There would have been nothing wrong with that if everybody had benefited, but this was not the case. Instead, the benefits went exclusively to a small proportion of the population in control of the process.

The encyclical makes the powerful point that our technological development has not been accompanied by a development in human responsibility, values and conscience.

The attitude now is not to respect nature but to master and manipulate it to suit the market. This is what Pope Francis’ encyclical is tackling. He warns that human intervention through business interests and consumerism are making our earth less rich and beautiful: “We seem to think that we can substitute an irreplaceable and irretrievable beauty with something which we have created ourselves.”

The effects are seen in the deterioration of the environment and lifestyles dictated “by the interests of certain powerful groups”.

This situation cannot be resolved by maximising profits and ignoring the rhythms of nature or ecosystems which are gravely upset by human intervention.

Francis wants us to recognise that we must change lifestyles, production and consumption to combat global warming “or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it”. So he appeals to every person on the planet to share in the task in their own way.

Critics may scoff at what they regard as the pontiff’s ignorance of the economic forces at play in the modern world, but Francis is undeterred. As a pastor he is concerned about justice for all who are being depersonalised by profiteers.