Full text: Laudato Si

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Reading it now! So excited! I thought paragraph 11 was really beautiful.
 
The Holy See has published the text of Pope Francis’s second encyclical letter, Laudato Si’, subtitled "on care of our common home."The encyclical, dated May 24 (Pentecost Sunday) and …

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Here’s the Vatican’s own “Press Guide” summarizing the document:

news.va/en/news/laudato-si-a-press-guide-to-the-new-encyclical

Here is the full text of the document on the Vatican website, in case people prefer:

w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

And the pdf:

w2.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf

The Vatican links took a while to load for me. I’m guessing they are receiving higher than average traffic this morning. 🙂
 
I ordered a copy of the Ignatius Press edition but it’s not released until August 😦

I don’t really like reading things on e-readers or on screen but I may get impatient.
 
If the pope says in an encyclical that the Big Bang Theory is true, and the universe will expand forever, must every Catholic believe that to be a Catholic in good standing?

Did any past encyclicals confirm, say, the historical facts of Genesis on the one hand, or evolution on the other hand? I’m wondering if some did, and we have just forgotten them.

If this encyclical confirms a scientific fact (e.g., harmful anthropogenic global warming), will it be the first to confirm a scientific fact?
 
Even though it was expected, I’m still slack-jawed after reading through the MMGW parts. Despite a mild caveat, it seems to be a wholesale adoption of the theory and at least a general suggestion of suppression of fossil fuel use (especially coal) and advanced countries paying for some kind of environmental remediation in poorer countries. Poor Catholic Joe Manchin. How is he going to address his coal miner constituents now? How, indeed, are German industrial workers, dependent on brown coal for the energy to drive their factories, going to think about a seeming conflict between Catholicism and their employment? And Poles, who mine coal for export as well as for heat, light and industrial energy?

I am obliged to respect the Pope and what he says. I am not obliged to agree with the fact assertions or the economic assumptions.

I do think this will be welcome news to the current administration in the U.S., to those protestant leaders who want their parishioners and potential converts to be wary of the Catholic Church, to China, to India, and to those who have been financially speculating on the suppression of energy generation in the U.S.

I think it is very bad news for the ordinary people of the U.S., because only the government of the U.S. will attempt to do any of these things, and for reasons having nothing to do with Pope Francis’ overall message. The rest of the world will not.

I’ll probably re-read it a number of times. But at first read, it’s very troubling to me.
 
Ridgerunner said:
Even though it was expected, I’m still slack-jawed after reading through the MMGW parts. Despite a mild caveat, it seems to be a wholesale adoption of the theory and at least a general suggestion of suppression of fossil fuel use (especially coal) and advanced countries paying for some kind of environmental remediation in poorer countries. Poor Catholic Joe Manchin. How is he going to address his coal miner constituents now? How, indeed, are German industrial workers, dependent on brown coal for the energy to drive their factories, going to think about a seeming conflict between Catholicism and their employment? And Poles, who mine coal for export as well as for heat, light and industrial energy?

I am obliged to respect the Pope and what he says. I am not obliged to agree with the fact assertions or the economic assumptions.

I do think this will be welcome news to the current administration in the U.S., to those protestant leaders who want their parishioners and potential converts to be wary of the Catholic Church, to China, to India, and to those who have been financially speculating on the suppression of energy generation in the U.S.

I think it is very bad news for the ordinary people of the U.S., because only the government of the U.S. will attempt to do any of these things, and for reasons having nothing to do with Pope Francis’ overall message. The rest of the world will not.

I’ll probably re-read it a number of times. But at first read, it’s very troubling to me.
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And when MMGW is found to be false in twenty some years, it will be used to make the Church a laughingstock.
 
Ned_Hill said:
If the pope says in an encyclical that the Big Bang Theory is true, and the universe will expand forever, must every Catholic believe that to be a Catholic in good standing?

Did any past encyclicals confirm, say, the historical facts of Genesis on the one hand, or evolution on the other hand? I’m wondering if some did, and we have just forgotten them.

If this encyclical confirms a scientific fact (e.g., harmful anthropogenic global warming), will it be the first to confirm a scientific fact?
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Many encyclicals are NOT dogma. Here is a good article that goes into detail about papal infallibility catholic.com/tracts/papal-infallibility

Another link in this forum has some further clarification on encyclicals
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=109552
 
I think some of the people who will be cheering on the Pope the loudest now, will be those who, besides this encyclical, want nothing else to do with the Church.
 
Al_Moritz said:
So you are putting your conservative political ideology ahead of your Catholic faith?
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I think he’s questioning the science and public policy recommendations that the Pope takes as a settled fact but which many even most Americans do not.
 
Ridgerunner said:
Even though it was expected, I’m still slack-jawed after reading through the MMGW parts. Despite a mild caveat, it seems to be a wholesale adoption of the theory…

I think it is very bad news for the ordinary people of the U.S., because only the government of the U.S. will attempt to do any of these things, and for reasons having nothing to do with Pope Francis’ overall message. The rest of the world will not.

I’ll probably re-read it a number of times. But at first read, it’s very troubling to me.
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Agreed. There are some passages where it appears the encyclical is endorsing certain scientific theories as correct…more so than any encyclical ever endorsed evolution, or the Big Bang. Some sentences read as statements of fact.

I already see anti-Catholics posting with glee in other forums, as they use the encyclical’s language for their own political purposes. (I note that they do not use the encyclicals with which they disagree.)

Even if I assume that everything turns out to be 100% perfect, when properly understood, after several readings…it will be tedious dealing with the attacks from the 99% of the people who will have no desire to properly understand it or even read it. These attacks will be harmful. Seems like better issues could have been tackled at this time.
 
Al_Moritz said:
So you are putting your conservative political ideology ahead of your Catholic faith?
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No need to insult me, particularly since you know nothing about my faith. But the above post actually proves the point I have been making all along.

This will be perceived (or represented) by many as a doctrinal statement of the Church when it isn’t. Those who believe in MMGW will use it to accuse those who do not accept the theory of putting their “politics” ahead of their faith. In my particular case, I simply don’t think the MMGW promoters have met the burden of proof sufficient to support state actions that will almost certainly result in suffering to many. And I’m far from being alone in that opinion.

Those who are opposed to the Church will use it to dissuade many from seeing that which is good about the Church.
 
Al_Moritz said:
So you are putting your conservative political ideology ahead of your Catholic faith?
Click to expand...
I’ll answer for myself, since I agreed with the previous statement: Of course not. My Catholic faith will always come first.

Can I ask you: Does our Catholic faith now endorse certain scientific theories? Are we required to believe them? Am I required to set aside my doubts on certain environmental scientific theories?

The Church has always made room for Creationists, and has not required belief in evolution. Has that approach changed?
 
It reads like a teenager’s diary or an internet forum post. There’s too much to critique on substance yet. The style is awful for an encyclical, though.😦
 
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