Laudato si'
Laudato si' (in the Umbrian dialect of medieval Italian meaning Praise be)[1] is the name of the second encyclical of Pope Francis, signed on May 24, Solemnity of Pentecost, in 2015, and presented on June 18 of 2015.[2]
The encyclical focuses on planet Earth as the place where people live, advocating for nature, animal life, and energy reforms in six chapters. Francis makes a "scathing critique of consumerism and irresponsible development with a plea for swift and unified global action to combat environmental degradation and climate change."[3] The Pope emphasizes that this is an encyclical that must be included in the Social Magisterium of the Church. He explicitly clarifies that this is not just another “green” discourse,[4] but rather urges public and private sectors to “recognize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach, which must integrate justice in discussions about the environment, to hear both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor” (49).
It is the second encyclical published by Francis, after Lumen fidei of 2013, although Lumen fidei was largely written by Benedict XVI, making Laudato si' the first encyclical written entirely by Francis.[2]
Content
The encyclical is divided into six chapters:
Chapter 1. What is happening to our land
It addresses recent research on the environmental and ecological crisis, interpreting them as the "cry of creation" calling for solutions.
Chapter 2. The Gospel of Creation
To address these issues, based on the biblical accounts of creation, offers a general overview of nature and expresses the responsibility that human beings have toward creation and the ties that unite all beings in nature, considering the environment as a common heritage and a responsibility for everyone.
Chapter 3. Human roots of the ecological crisis
The chapter offers an analysis of the ecological crisis, focusing on its human causes: technology, the economic systems around the world, globalization, and anthropocentrism, among others.
Chapter 4. An integral ecology
Pope Francis uses the concept of an "integral ecology" as a new paradigm of justice, an ecology that "incorporates the peculiar place of the human being in this world and his relations with the reality that surrounds him". It considers the link between environmental, social and human issues that cannot be broken or separated, so that the solutions must be integral and "consider the interactions of natural systems with each other and with social systems", since there are not two separate crisis (environmental and social) but only one. Problems must be addressed in a comprehensive manner, which implies collective work.
Chapter 5. Some lines of guidance and action
A reinforcement of the concept of building concrete and stable solutions through dialogue and consensus; and debates must be honest and avoid ideologization. Everyone must participate in this dialogue: states, social organizations, supranational entities, and of course, religions, which must also open themselves to dialogue with the sciences.
Chapter 6. Ecological education and spirituality
The encyclical here calls for an ecological "conversion",[5] as it finds it necessary to redesign habits and behaviors.
Reactions
The Encyclical was the subject of major headlines and coverage by the international press, which, focused mostly only on ecological and environmental issues, such as human responsibility in global warming. However, the media often neglected or ignored the other themes of the encyclical and its proposed solutions.[6]
References
- ↑ Marirrodriga, Jorge (17 de junio de 2015). "'Laudato si: Francisco evoca a Francisco de Asís". Retrieved 1 de septiembre de 2015.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=and|date=(help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Papa Francisco (24 de mayo de 2015). "Laudato si'". Retrieved 18 de junio de 2015.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=and|date=(help) - ↑ Sofía Lobos (2 de julio de 2018). "Conferencia en el Vaticano en el tercer aniversario de la Laudato Si'". Vatican News.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ↑ Bianchi, Enrique Ciro (2016). "Laudato si' : ¿sólo un discurso "verde"?". Vida pastoral Nro. 351, Año 2016. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
- ↑ Chuvieco Salinero, Emilio (2017). "La "conversión ecológica" en la "Laudato Si" y en la tradición cristiana". La Albolafia: Revista de Humanidades y Cultura (10): 27–42. ISSN 2386-2491. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
- ↑ "Reacciones a la encíclica "Laudato sì" del Papa Francisco en la prensa de América Latina". www.cambioclimatico.org (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-10-15.