Hence, the entire argument about whether or not the nostrums of the Left comply with the snippets of the Bible misses the entire point. The authority of Christianity does not derive from its grand strategies for combating poverty but from a single strategy of granting new life to individuals who might be poor or who might be rich but are bankrupt in their souls. To argue and dispute the secular political or environmental strategies of Christianity is to cause the faith to descend into competition with sharia or with Marxism, that is, to equate Christianity with social reform rather than with salvation.
As a Protestant, I believe the purpose of the Christian church is to save souls and not to save the environment. The Pope might indeed be the Vicar of Christ but when he gets into the business of rendering unto Caesar he is no more than any leftist advancing life controls contrary to human liberty. Whether his nostrums comply with snippets from the Bible or are contrary to other provisions of the Bible, are of no theological value and of no secular value. That is not to deny, however, that Christianity offers the world the best environment for the secular prosperity of mankind and the proof is in the relative dystopia produced by other theologies such as Islam. That secular advantage is a side effect, not the raison d'être of Christianity.
The message is a person not a white paper even if it's called an encyclical on the environment, the economy or poverty.
