Thoughts for the Day & A Special Announcement: Friday 13 August 2021

Pope Francis, author

Starting today and running until I decide not to, I'll be pulling quotes from one work. Normally, I receive (somewhat) random quotes from my Readwise app. It pulls my highlights from my Kindle reading and popular highlights from paper books that I've read and recorded in my Goodreads account. But now I'm pulling my quotes only from Laudato Si, the 2015 encyclical (fancy word for formal letter) issued by Pope Francis. The subtitle (all via an official translation from the Vatican) tells readers what it's about: On Care for Our Common Home. It addresses climate change, environmental degradation more generally, justice, and our common humanity and the creatures with whom we share this Earth. 

Why Pope Francis? 

Because he's the leader of the Catholic Church? No. 

Because he's a prominent figure in contemporary Christianity as a whole? No. 

Because he's a prominent figure among the leaders of various religious traditions in the world today? No. 

Of course, he's the leader of the Catholic Church, a prominent figure within Christianity as a whole, and he's one the most prominent religious figures in the world today. But I chose his encyclical to share because (just today) I sat down to read it and found (not to my surprise) that it's not addressed only to Catholics or Christians or the religious in general. It's addressed to all of us. Many papal encyclicals and Church-approved positions about morality are based on "natural law" (a somewhat dated and controversial notion), or in more contemporary language, upon arguments that arise from our common humanity and that apply to all of us. While the Pope's arguments are certainly grounded in Christianity and reference Catholic doctrine, ideas of the divine, and the Western tradition, as well as contemporary science, his arguments and prophetic voice are addressed to all of us. His argument should be judged by this standard: Do his arguments make sense to persons from diverse backgrounds from around the world? I think so, at least having dipped into the work. If I find that his arguments become parochial or unpersuasive, I'll change the channel. But until then, let's hear him out. 

The first set of quotes (sampled below) are taken from an "Introduction" written for this edition by Harvard professor the history science, Naomi Oreskes, who's written about climate change. (My review from 2014 of  The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future by Naomi Oreskes & Eric M. Conway.) The introductory remarks and quotes by Oreskes provide a useful overview of what is to come. 

Two lines of thought particularly stand out. The first is an affirmation of our interconnectedness and mutual responsibility toward one another, as well as toward our common Earthly home. The second is a denunciation of the aspects of modern life that have led to our current predicament. The essence of the critique is that our situation is not an accident—it is the consequence of the way we think and act: we deny the moral dimensions of our decisions and conflate progress with activity. We cannot continue to think and act this way—to disregard both nature and justice—and expect to flourish. It is not only not moral, it is not even rational. (Location 34)

 The wide-ranging character of the encyclical is consistent with its central, anti-reductionist argument, which is, quite simply, that everyone and everything is related because it is all part of Creation. (Location 39)

[Pope Francis] also invokes a theme that has been common in the history of science: that nature is “a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness. ‘Through the greatness and the beauty of creatures one comes to know by analogy their maker’ (Wis 13:5); indeed, ‘his eternal power and divinity have been made known through his works since the creation of the world’ (Rom 1:20).”

(Location 54)

The core of the argument is that because human dignity finds its roots in our common Creation, caring for our fellow citizen and caring for our environment are the same thing. It is not a question of people versus the environment and choosing which is more important. It is a question of abandoning the notion of “versus” altogether. Respect for creation and respect for human dignity are two aspects of the same idea. (Location 60)