Good news about the new encyclical Laudato si’ – #PopeForPlanet

WDTPRS ^ | June 18, 2015 | Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

[NYer]

Before anything else… don’t just bash the new encyclical.   Some people are having rancisull-fledged spittle-flecked nutties today.  I suspect that some of them are people who are happy only when they are unhappy.

Dear readers… take a deep breath.

There are good things in it.   Yes, there are bad things in it too.   Pope’s don’t get all things right all the time.  Sometimes Popes are… GASP… wrong, especially when they stray onto unfamiliar turf.

Also, let me say that Popes can and should write about the environment.   It is the Pope’s job to explain the theological and spiritual dimensions of creation to the flock.   Whether it falls to them to talk about predictive models for environmental changes…

A link to the official text of the encyclical HERE

Since you may see in the interwebs some serious bashing of the encyclical, I bring to your attention a couple good resources to help you digest Laudato si’ … if you chose to bother with it.

First, check out the resource page that Acton Institute has provided.  HERE

The encyclical addresses issues that are solidly in Acton’s wheelhouse.  You cannot find more thoughtful and better informed commentators than those who are around Acton.

Also, at Stream, check out this piece: 11 Things You Probably Won’t Hear about Pope Francis’ Encyclical

These are 11 good things in the encyclical… which is why you won’t hear about them in the MSM.

Each point of the following is explained in the piece with quotes gleaned directly from the encyclical. Here are the bullet points:

The official version of Pope Francis’ eco-encyclical Laudato Si was released this morning. While much of the media focus will be on the sections devoted to climate change and global warming, here are eleven things from the encyclical you probably won’t see in the headlines.

(1) Creation has a Creator, and is more than just “nature-plus-evolution”:

[…]

(2) Human ecology means recognizing and valuing the difference between masculinity and femininity:

[…]

(3) Jesus sanctifies human work:

[…]

(4) Look up from your phones and encounter each other:

[…]

(5) Save the baby humans:

[…]

(6) Helping the poor requires more than just handouts:

[…]

(7) Overpopulation is not the problem:

[…]

(8) True ecology requires true anthropology and respect for human dignity:

[…]

(9) Real change requires a change in culture, not just politics:

[…]

(10) The Church does not presume to settle scientific questions, and we need an honest and open debate:

[…]

(11) Stop with the cynicism, secularism and immorality:

[…]

What the Stream piece does is emphasize the letter’s strengths.   That’s important for you to know.   Perhaps you might want to your look at the encyclical by reading the paragraphs the Stream piece provides before moving to a reading of the whole thing… if you bother with that.  I’m not saying that you should, by they way.

There are some things in the encyclical that don’t make the list of the 11 good points.  They are the less good things.   Some of them will obtain nearly infinite attention from the MSM and liberal catholics.  There are a few things in the encyclical that are face-palm inducing, such as the section on how we should not use air conditioners.   The theme of North v South is tired and pretty much wrong (clue: Australia is in the South and Russia is in the North).  The emphasis on predictive models is, it seems to me, a mistake.   Time and again predictive models wind up being wrong.  Blaming markets and wealth for environmental problems seems absurd to me.  Most Popes don’t, can’t, write everything they issue.   They rely on ghost writers.   I think the Pope needs a new staff.   The document isn’t all that coherent, across its sections.

Anyway… my point here is not to pick on the document. There may be time for that later. The point of this is to guide to some of the better aspects of the encyclical so that you are not immediately turned off to it because of the wiggy meltdowns some are going to have.

[SpirituTuo]

I hear what you are saying, and agree with you.

[Zionist Conspirator]

How far we have sunk when the Pope saying “you should not kill babies” and “God created the world” are now seen as examples of “Good News”.

Lol! But didn't this Pope say that "G-d is not a magician who can do anything?"

[MortMan]

What the Stream piece does is emphasize the letter’s strengths. That’s important for you to know. Perhaps you might want to your look at the encyclical by reading the paragraphs the Stream piece provides before moving to a reading of the whole thing… if you bother with that. I’m not saying that you should, by they way.

Does it strike anyone else as odd that the author, a priest, is essentially discounting the need to read the whole of the Pope's letter in order to point out the areas where it isn't wrong? Leavening a bowl of crap stew with high-quality herbs doesn't improve the flavor.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Does it strike anyone else as odd that the author, a priest, is essentially discounting the need to read the whole of the Pope's letter in order to point out the areas where it isn't wrong? Leavening a bowl of crap stew with high-quality herbs doesn't improve the flavor.

Duuuuuude!

[MortMan]

Nice ad hominem. How unchristian of you.

[oblomov]

Where is the ad hominem? It was my summary of the article.

[oblomov]

Does it strike anyone else as odd that the author, a priest, is essentially discounting the need to read the whole of the Pope's letter in order to point out the areas where it isn't wrong? Leavening a bowl of crap stew with high-quality herbs doesn't improve the flavor.

That was precisely my point.

[MortMan]

I have to apologize. I completely missed your “Cliff Notes” first line in the comment you posted, and thought your “completely unhinged” comment was aimed from you at anyone who disagreed.

Mea culpa.

(I am not an idiot, but sometimes I play one on the internet...)

[piusv]

192 pages on the environment.

Meanwhile, according to Francis, we are obsessed with abortion.

Does.not.compute.

[piusv]

There are good things in it. Yes, there are bad things in it too.

Darn tootin. That's what Modernists do: include heresy with orthodoxy.

[caww]

...."the Globalists aren’t crazy about this passage".....

It makes no difference whatsoever to the Godless Globalists what vocabulary the Pope uses, or scriptures he quotes to advance the Global Agenda and make it appealing to the catholic masses, as long as he positions them into place....which is exactly what he's doing and what they want.

It's certainly no secret that 'religion' throughout history has always been 'used by the powerful' as a mechanism 'to control society'... Buzz words like collectivism, unification, diversity, multiculturalism is the best form of social control 'under the banner of religion',...this with the desired result for the 'neutralization' of Christians and other religions to comply with the 'Global Government changes' under a NEW AGE Religion based on promoting false environmental issues, and to stop the public them from taking action to resist those 'changes'.

The Global Leaders have long viewed a rising population as a threat to their dominance. They also have understood and realized that eventually a large number of people will inevitably overthrow and remove them from power.....therefore important for us to recognize Globalissts are particularly concerned 'with the middle class' because they have the intelligence and capacity to organize...... Thus we have the attacks today against the middle class..... By destroying the middle class they then will have 'a public equally poor' and thus incapable of rebelling.

The Pope is worse then a Fool....his appeal to help the poor will do just the opposite as he continues to sleep with the Globalist leadership and seek their approval.

As his own words attest....he seeks Globalist Solutions.

[Salvation]

Did you read it?

Do you really know what an encyclical is?

Definition was posted on several threads yesterday.

[Salvation]

One of the points of the encyclical is:

Overpopulation is not the problem

[Sacajaweau]

This is the first encyclical since the beginning of the church on the environment.

What's your point?

[CynicalBear]

>>As his own words attest....he seeks Globalist Solutions.<<

And global governance. The last days false prophet.

[caww]

The problem isn't poverty...the problem is the country leaders who create their citizen's poverty to escalate. There will always be the poor to some extent....but as we see in third world countries...no matter how much re-distribution of wealth that's thrown their way the country's leadership absorbs most of it...and the cycle continues....Africa... Haiti and others evidence such. Haiti and Africa are so accustomed to their poverty and taking handouts from the World that they have never had to rise themselves above their condition...because like spoiled children they know the world will bail them out once again.

[Army Air Corps]

Indeed. There is what you describe coupled with “leaders” in Third World countries who enjoy being in control of the aid as well as maintaining a tight grip on their nation’s resources so as to control the people. Sickies.

[MDLION]

“The last days false prophet”

The False Prophet, the Anti- Christ’s pal, will condemn abortion, birth control, gender theory, gay marriage, fornication, embryo destruction, gossip (sins of the tongue), and on and on?

I don’t buy it. The Anti- Christ and the False Prophet are about turning everything upside down, making wrong right and right wrong.

[CynicalBear]

>>The Anti- Christ and the False Prophet are about turning everything upside down, making wrong right and right wrong.<<

Not until they have everyone under their control. They will first deceive many into following them. And yes they will have to begin by lying about abortion etc.

[MDLION]

“false environmental issues”

Environmental issues aren’t false. In some cities in China the pollution and smog are so thick that the people walk around wearing dust masks. Respiratory illnesses, cancers, and disabilities and deaths resulting from such are spiking in these cities. The Pope isn’t addressing just the 6% of Catholics in the United States, but the entire world. And in some places the powerless are exploited. Where I work, there are nearby smoke stacks. I wouldn’t want to live in the neighborhood.