It’s courageous, it’s prophetic, it’s challenging, it’s holistic, it’s wonderful: That’s what I think of Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home.” Quoting his patron saint, Francis of Assisi – who is also the patron saint of ecology – Pope Francis begins his papal letter with a beautiful verse from Read more
Deep in Hell, in the ninth ring of the eighth circle, Dante encounters a group of souls who have gone to pieces. One is slit “from the chin right down to where men fart”; his entrails dangle between his legs. A second, whose hands have been lopped off, gestures with gory stumps. A third holds Read more
No papal document in recent decades has generated as much pre-release interest as Laudato Si, an encyclical letter written by Pope Francis that the Vatican will release Thursday. Considering the author’s global popularity, the high profile created by his office, and the politically polarizing topic – the environment, especially his insistence on action on climate Read more
It’s not surprising that Pope Francis’ upcoming encyclical on climate change has already generated a lot of attention in the media and elsewhere, given the stature of his office and his sky-high popularity – not to mention the politically polarizing nature of the subject matter. The upcoming encyclical, which is scheduled to be released on Read more
Pope Francis’s much anticipated encyclical on the environment will be released on June 18, the Vatican has confirmed. Earlier unconfirmed reports had put the release date two days earlier. “To avoid confusion on the diffusion of non-confirmed information, it is communicated that the foreseen date of the Pope’s encyclical is the next June 18, Thursday,” Read more
The Vatican has denied that Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment had been delayed over doctrinal fears. Veteran Vaticanista Sandro Magister claimed on his blog Settimo Cielo on May 11 that the Pope had “binned” the first draft of the encyclical in March. Magister said the Pope feared the first draft would have been “demolished” Read more
Do the climate change deniers seem more ridiculous than ever? Gee, I dunno, is the pope Catholic? Actually, Pope Francis himself is making them look more ridiculous and isolated than ever. He’s poised to put his moral imprimatur on the scientific consensus about man-made climate change, with a much-anticipated summer encyclical, and this is driving Read more
Environmental campaigner and former US vice-president Al Gore has said he could become Catholic because of Pope Francis. At an event at the University of California, Berkeley, Mr Gore said he thinks Francis is “quite an inspiring figure, really”. “I’ve been startled with the clarity of the moral force that he embodies,” Mr Gore said. Read more
The Pope’s encyclical on the environment is now finalised and is being translated into different languages, with an anticipated release in June. Vatican officials made this announcement on April 28 at a one-day Rome summit on climate change. According to a report on the Crux website, the President of the Pontifical Academy for Sciences, Bishop Read more
Pope Francis is to convene a meeting of faith leaders to address climate change issues ahead of two international summits next year. An encyclical on the environment, which will also address climate change, is expected from Francis next year. Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, said the encyclical would be Read more