In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, which recounts God’s creation of the cosmos, the expression “God saw that it was good” is repeated seven times in seven days. And on the seventh time the phrase is even stronger: “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good”.
On June 18, Pope Francis’s first encyclical letter was presented to the diplomatic corps, the media and the public. The encyclical, Laudato Si’, speaks not the only about the environment in its familiar connotation but also about the ‘oikonomia’, on care for our common home.
When Pope St John XXIII issued Pacem in Terris he made a first, because he addressed it not only to the hierarchy, the clergy and the faithful but also to all men of good will. This time, Francis abstained from such an address, and instead, as if to indicate the urgency of his appeal, stepped immediately in the middle of his discourse in the style of the epic genre.
He makes his intention clear – “to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home” – almost implying that he wants to dialogue even with those who are unwilling to join in. “Now, faced as we are with global environmental deterioration,” he insists.
The ideas expressed in this encyclical were not received by universal enthusiasm. To me this was immediately clear, and on the evening of June 18 I had a clear proof. In spite of the fact that Barak Obama, the leader of the capitalist West, was full of praise for the Pope, I wanted to know how the BBC World Service News would present it. I must admit I had a premonition that the BBC would keep mum and ignore it. And I was right! Not even one sentence in its 11pm news bulletin.
Laudato Si’ brought to my mind the Club of Rome. In April 1968, a group of 30 individuals from 10 countries, including scientists, educators, economists, humanists, industrialists, and national and international civil servants, met at the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome at the instigation of Aurelio Peccei, an Italian industrial manager, economist, and man of vision.
Let’s hope we will not forget Laudato Si’ with our ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’
They discussed mankind’s present and future predicament and aimed to foster a new understanding of the varied but interdependent components – economic, political, natural, and social – that make up the global system in which we live. They sought to bring this new understanding to the attention of policymakers and the public worldwide; and in this way to promote new policy initiatives and action. As a result of this project, a report entitled The Limits to Growth was later published by the club and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology research team. Pope Francis has added an important dimension: the place of religions in enlightening this process with their values and spiritualities. To this he added the strength of his moral stature.
The Pope’s encyclical also brought to mind Herbert Marcuse’s critical book One-Dimensional Man, where he criticised the ideologies of advanced industrial societies; now we are in a post-industrial regime. And when the Pope speaks of technocracy, it is the Nobel laureate John Kenneth Galbraith’s The Affluent Society that comes to mind.
This shows that the Pope Francis, whose magisterium some Catholics tend to put in question, has shown his and the Catholic Church’s ability and potential to enter in dialogue with the modern world and with the humanities, the sciences and the social sciences.
In line with Pope Benedict, in Laudato Si’, let us be aware of the need of “eliminating the structural causes of the dysfunctions of the world economy and correcting models of growth which have proved incapable of ensuring respect for the environment”. Pope Francis is presenting us with another genre of magisterium: the prophetic magisterium. Let’s hope we will not forget Laudato Si’ with our ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’.
joe.inguanez@gmail.com
Fr Joe Inguanez, a sociologist, is executive director of Discern.