It was heartening to read praises and favourable comments by Leo Brincat, Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change, in a recent article in Times of Malta, in reaction to Pope Francis’s latest encyclical on the environment.
When referring to Ottmar Edenhofer, chief economist of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the minister affirmed that one should never underestimate the soft power of moral arguments. Brincat also pointed out that the Pontiff “is proposing an intriguing coalition between faith and science”.
In ‘Quotes and News’, compiled by Fr Joe Borg in The Sunday Times of Malta (June 28), it was reported that Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, in his reaction to US presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s negative remarks on the encyclical, commented: “We (should) stop making the artificial separation between moral issues, theological issues and business issues. We talk about these subject matters not because we are experts on these matters, we talk about them because they concern the impact on our lives.”
Perhaps, finally, we are realising that heeding to the social teaching of the Church does in no way demean us or makes us less human or less democratic. The main concern of the Church’s teaching is the dignity of the human person, wherever he is and whoever he is. That is why the Church’s teaching encompasses the social, economic and environmental aspects, as well as our spiritual well-being.
It is very aptly stated in the Compendium of the Church’s Social Doctrine that “the Church cannot be indifferent to all that is chosen, produced and lived in the society in regard to morality, that is, all that is human and humanising in social life”.
Our society shall be healthier and better off if politicians take heed of the Church’s social teaching and invite it more often to participate in matters concerning the good of the human person. The common good permeates the whole Catholic doctrine.
No wonder then, that the words, On the Care of Our Common Home, that enunciate the encyclical Laudato Si’, have already made such a great impact on every human being of good will.