One of the rarest and most important things a pope does is issue encyclicals. In the eight years of Pope Benedict's papacy, he issued three encyclicals. In the 27 years of Pope John Paul II's papacy, he issued 14 encyclicals.
Since his ascendancy to the papacy in March 2013, Pope Francis has issued one.
But Pope Francis is about to issue an encyclical to the world's 5,000 bishops and 400,000 priests that tells us a great deal about him, about Latin America and, most of all, about the influence of what has been the most dynamic religion in the world for the last hundred years.
Hint: It isn't Christianity or Islam.
This year, the pope will use an immense amount papal moral influence to address global warming, or as it is now called, in light of the small amount of warming actually taking place, climate change.
...
How are we to explain that at the very moment that the oldest Christian communities in the world are being violently destroyed; that while Christians are murdered, raped and tortured in Africa and the Middle East; and while horrific barbarities are committed daily in the name of God, the pope issues an encyclical and travels around the world to talk about climate change?
...
Defenders of Pope Francis note that Pope Benedict, too, spoke eloquently about man's obligations to protect nature. That is true. And it is irrelevant. First, he issued no encyclical on the issue; his encyclicals were, like almost every papal encyclical, non-political. Second, everyone knows we have an obligation to care for the planet. But caring for the planet has as much to do with left-wing environmentalism as protecting workers had to do with Communism.
By all accounts, Pope Francis is a wonderful man. Conservatives understand that good people can hold left-wing positions. If only bad people held left-wing positions, leftism wouldn't be the world's most dynamic religion.
Unfortunately, however, being a wonderful person doesn't mean you will be a wonderful pope. Any Catholic who tweets, "Inequality is the root of social evil," as Pope Francis did last March, should be a socialist prime minister, not a Christian leader. The moral message of every Bible-based religion is that the root of evil is caused by poor character and poor moral choices, not by economics. The pope's tweet is from Marx, not Moses.
Since his ascendancy to the papacy in March 2013, Pope Francis has issued one.
But Pope Francis is about to issue an encyclical to the world's 5,000 bishops and 400,000 priests that tells us a great deal about him, about Latin America and, most of all, about the influence of what has been the most dynamic religion in the world for the last hundred years.
Hint: It isn't Christianity or Islam.
This year, the pope will use an immense amount papal moral influence to address global warming, or as it is now called, in light of the small amount of warming actually taking place, climate change.
...
How are we to explain that at the very moment that the oldest Christian communities in the world are being violently destroyed; that while Christians are murdered, raped and tortured in Africa and the Middle East; and while horrific barbarities are committed daily in the name of God, the pope issues an encyclical and travels around the world to talk about climate change?
...
Defenders of Pope Francis note that Pope Benedict, too, spoke eloquently about man's obligations to protect nature. That is true. And it is irrelevant. First, he issued no encyclical on the issue; his encyclicals were, like almost every papal encyclical, non-political. Second, everyone knows we have an obligation to care for the planet. But caring for the planet has as much to do with left-wing environmentalism as protecting workers had to do with Communism.
By all accounts, Pope Francis is a wonderful man. Conservatives understand that good people can hold left-wing positions. If only bad people held left-wing positions, leftism wouldn't be the world's most dynamic religion.
Unfortunately, however, being a wonderful person doesn't mean you will be a wonderful pope. Any Catholic who tweets, "Inequality is the root of social evil," as Pope Francis did last March, should be a socialist prime minister, not a Christian leader. The moral message of every Bible-based religion is that the root of evil is caused by poor character and poor moral choices, not by economics. The pope's tweet is from Marx, not Moses.
link
This is a little disturbing. Yes, we need to care for God's creation, but this looks entirely beyond the scope of a form of communication traditionally used to promulgate theological directives, not political ones.
Comment