Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of Creation has been an inspiration for Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si', urging all people to take stock and change the way we live in this world. Neil Darragh gives an overview of this letter indicating the concerns, the care, the change and the integrated approaches the Pope hopes for.

The Italian title (Umbrian dialect) of Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ is unusual but significant. (The official titles of encyclicals are usually in Latin.) It comes from the first words of St Francis of Assisi’s canticle — “Praise be to you, my Lord” — which praises the wonders of God’s creation. This canticle sets the tone of the encyclical for which Francis of Assisi provides the great example of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically.

Holistic view of world

The encyclical begins by reviewing what the pope sees as the most troubling ecological issues of today: pollution and climate change, the depletion of natural resources especially water, the loss of biodiversity, the decline in the quality of human life and the breakdown of society, and global inequality.

But how did social issues like the “breakdown of society” and “global inequality” get into this discussion of “ecological” issues? This is one of the key points of the encyclical. It takes a holistic view of the world where human beings are integrally related with the whole of nature. A decline in the quality of human life and a decline in the quality of the natural world around us go together. 

“A sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings” (par 91).

Our common home

The encyclical is subtitled On Care for our Common Home. It is about care for the home we have in common with all the creatures of this planet. Previous papal comments on ecology relied mainly on the image of “stewardship” to focus the relationship of human beings to our environment. The image of the “steward” appears only briefly in Laudato Si’. The central image is not one of stewardship — essentially management — but rather that of a common home, a planet in which we are interdependent with other creatures, all members of God’s family with mutually supporting roles and responsibilities.

The pope’s call is for an integral ecology which respects all the environmental, human, and social dimensions of this common home. An integral ecology is one in which we recognise one complex crisis which is both social and environmental and which requires an economics in service of a more integrating vision. It is one in which we respect not just the natural but also the historic, artistic and cultural patrimony which has shaped our cultural identity and sense of meaning; in which the quality of daily life is influenced by an ordered and beautiful environment; in which human ecology is inseparable from the principle of the common good; and where the notion of the common good also extends to future generations.

Human causes

The encyclical is strong on the human roots of the ecological crisis. We have developed powerful technologies but we do not yet have a spirituality and ethics capable of setting limits and teaching clear-minded self-restraint. Our inability to take this challenge seriously has much to do with an ethical and cultural decline which has accompanied the deterioration of the environment. People today run the risk of rampant individualism, and many problems of society are connected with today’s self-centred culture of instant gratification.

This focus on human causes has provoked criticism from those who believe in the power of technology to solve our current problems and from those who believe in the long-term benefits of neo-liberal individualism. The encyclical’s comments on climate change in particular have incurred the wrath of climate change sceptics, who regard climate change as a natural cycle not caused by human activity. Also opposed are the fossil fuel lobbies who advocate increased use of fossil fuels not just to maintain high-energy standards of living but also to overcome the plight of the poor.

Dialogue needed

For solutions, following the style of Vatican II, the pope examines the major paths of dialogue which can help us escape a spiral of self-destruction. He calls for dialogue in the international community and in national and local policies, dialogue and transparency in decision-making especially between politics and economics for human fulfilment, and dialogue between religions and science.

This encyclical is a call to a conversion of heart towards an enthusiastic appreciation of all of God’s creation and away from attitudes of destructive self-interest.

This ecological conversion requires education for the covenant between humanity and environment. It includes appreciation of the intimate relationship between the poor and the fragility of the planet, the conviction that everything in the world is connected, the critique of new paradigms and forms of power derived from technology, the call to seek other ways of understanding the economy and progress, recognition of the value proper to each creature, the human meaning of ecology, the need for forthright and honest debate, the serious responsibility of international and local policy, the need to deal with the throwaway culture and the proposal of a new lifestyle.

Sources and accessibility

Papal encyclicals usually draw on Scripture and on the statements of previous popes. But this one also quotes from a number of bishops’ conferences throughout the world (including the 2006 New Zealand Bishops’ statement on the environment). Pope Francis is here recognising his collegiality as bishop of Rome with Catholic bishops around the world as he did also in his 2013 Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). He draws too on statements from the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, the 9th century Sufi mystic Ali al-Khawas, and on the widely recognised document The Earth Charter (2000). He acknowledges the gains already made by the worldwide ecological movement.

For those who have attempted to read papal documents in the past but given up exhausted part way through, this encyclical is one that is accessible to most people with some knowledge of ecological concerns. It is still very long though. The master of mass communication through significant gestures and actions has not yet beaten the tradition of wordiness that has characterised encyclicals for some decades now. Many people will have to struggle too with the doggedness of the Vatican’s English translators who continue to use sexist language. Nevertheless it is more readable than most official church documents.

The encyclical is addressed to every person on this planet. The pope is calling on a common humanity to address this crisis. But the encyclical also has a chapter which is addressed specifically to Christians with a common heritage in the Scriptures. Christians in particular are called to realise that their responsibility within creation, and their duty towards nature and the Creator, are an essential part of their faith.

Two prayers conclude the encyclical. One is a prayer that can be shared with all who believe in a God who is the all-powerful Creator. The other is a prayer particularly for Christians where we ask for inspiration to take up the commitment to creation set before us by the Gospel of Jesus.

Neil Darragh is a theologian and priest of the Auckland diocese and author of a number of books particularly, At Home in the Earth.