Flowers from the pope
I was intrigued and excited by the fact that the pope came
up with an encyclical on the environment, however, was a bit lazy to digest all
246 paragraphs/75 pages and wanted to get a quick understanding of what it was
all about before deciding whether to read it all.
After all if the leader of one of the more popular religions
in the world decided to speak about the environment and his followers listened
and practiced, it would make a great impact on everyone’s lives, and would also
help everyone push in the same direction.
I chose this visualisation of the encyclical on the
environment because it looks like a bunch of flowers. At the centre of it all
is “human life”
The main themes around human life are:
Human
roots and modern anthropocentrism in the ecological crisis,
Human
beings,
The
gospel of creation
Our
common home,
Ecological
education and spirituality
Common
good.
Zooming on the “gospel
of creation” theme:
We can see that the pope refers to the gospel of creation in
relationship to human life and the place of human beings in the universe among
biblical creatures. The encyclical elaborates, obviously on the role of Jesus,
God and the Lord, but also on all creatures on earth. This concern for all
creatures is a recurrent theme in the encyclical.
The pope speaks of “our common home” and clearly sketches
some of the main issues that affect our lives: loss of species biodiversity,
debt, water issue, breakdown and decline of human life, and climate change
pollution and waste in many countries, the breakdown of human life.
He links this all to human beings, we are responsible for
this and we are called to do something about it.
The pope links ecological education and spirituality, He
clearly links the ecological crisis to human beings and affecting our common
good.
Looking at the details:
He speaks of the equation of love and civic gestures, how to
show love, changes in lifestyle and the need for humility, community and the
need for education and the eucharist. He obviously sees a role for religion in
achieving the changes in lifestyle necessary.
The pope makes it very clear that we have to aim for the
common good; that the roots of the ecological crisis is modern anthropocentrism,
that our common home and human life are affected by climate change, that
economy and politics, as well as social principles and various groups within
society have a huge role to play for our common good. In other words, it all depends on us.
The strongest message, to me, is the idea that the
ecological crisis has human roots and is caused by modern
anthropocentrism. This concept is
obviously linked to human beings, human life, our common good and ecological
education and spirituality.
Focusing on the
details:
The pope goes further by talking about genetic mutations
caused by us humans, and the role of technology:
We have to re-evaluate the technocratic paradigm and its
role in the ecological crisis.
The pope doesn’t simply talk of big themes, he has very
critical messages embedded in his encyclical:
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The pope voiced his concern about plant and animal disappearance
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Not only plants and animals, but also the oceans are within the scope
of this encyclical.
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He called for solidarity across generations, basically stating the
culture of the now is to blame for some of the environmental issues
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In order to make changes, according to the pope, there needs to be
pressure on policies at all levels, local and national.
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And he followed his calls by exhorting his flock to follow the example
of Saint Francis.
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Overall, this quick summary has convinced me to take a look
at what the pope has to say in more detail. If you are interested in the full
document, it can be found at:
