June 22, 2015
Few papal encyclicals have been as anticipated, or the subject of such intense speculation and conjecture, as Laudato Si'. This is perhaps due to the celebrity status Pope Francis has attained, and also to the charged nature - at least in the context of American and Australian domestic politics - of his subject matter.
Both the political left and the right are consistently
guilty of selectively appropriating aspects of Catholic doctrine that support
their positions, while downplaying or ignoring those that do not. They are all
cafeteria Catholics (albeit in different ways) who are ever-ready to reach for
George Weigel's proverbial gold and red pens. And each will, of course, attempt
to spin Laudato Si' to fit its own narrative and advance its own priorities.
However, Laudato Si' transcends our increasingly archaic and
meaningless partisan divisions - it supports neither side in their interminable
squabbles. Instead, at its heart, it is a profoundly subversive document that
represents a mortal threat to our reigning economic, political and cultural
paradigms. Indeed, its comprehensive vision of an integral ecology could serve
as the basis for the development of a new and authentic Third Way movement - a
political philosophy and economy firmly rooted in Catholic Social Teaching that
would be very different from anything currently on offer in either Australia or
America.
But it is a mistake to view Laudato Si' through a purely
political prism, or to permit the media commentariat to mediate Francis's
message - you simply must engage this text directly. One of the most remarkable
aspects of Laudato Si' is its openness and accessibility to a lay audience.
This is not a work laden with academic or technical jargon, decipherable only
by experts in philosophy or theology. It is written in a far more inclusive
style - indeed, its prose is beautiful and, at times, deeply moving.
Such an approach is appropriate. While so much of the
commentary and analysis focuses on its broader political ramifications, in
truth the primary audience of Laudato Si' isn't governmental leaders, the
titans of global finance, industrial magnates, or the commentariat. Instead,
Pope Francis's message is addressed to, and intended for, you. It is a work of
love that attempts to break through our shells of indifference and apathy, and
inspire us to action.
That said, substantively, Laudato Si' is characterized by a
hermeneutic of continuity, not rupture. Pope Francis builds upon the solid
foundation laid by his predecessors, bringing together disparate strands that
have long been present in Catholic Social Teaching and weaving them into a
persuasive and compelling argument in support of his concept of an
"integral ecology" - one that reflects the fact that our current
environmental, economic, social and even spiritual crises are linked and spring
from our broken relationships with God, with each other, and with the natural
world.
The encyclical contains a comprehensive survey of the
various environmental threats humanity is facing - including, most
controversially, climate change, which the pope correctly attributes to human
activity. It contains multiple condemnations of our present "throw away
culture," consumerism and the operation of unjust and exploitative
economic structures and systems. It contains an important discussion about the
Catholic concept of the universal destination of goods, and notes that as a
result private property rights are always subject to a social mortgage. And it
consistently emphasizes "the priority of being over that of being
useful" (par. 89), which Francis brilliantly uses to illustrate the
intrinsic value and dignity of both creation and of human beings. In Francis's
vision, there are neither disposable persons, nor species.
But the encyclical also speaks directly to each of us, to
our lifestyles and our priorities. Francis presciently observes that we live in
a world where "a minority believes that it has the right to consume in a
way which can never be universalized" (par. 50).
I mention this in order to move on to my final point: the
call for personal conversion, of the deepest, life-altering sort, that runs
throughout the entire document. In a way, it is always easy to spot the
splinter in another's eye, and miss the beam in our own. In the present
context, simply condemning bankers or other profiteers misses a key insight: we
are all complicit in the ecological, human, and spiritual damage caused by our
common culture. And, to avert catastrophe, we each must change.
Conversion isn't easy. Inertia is part of human nature - the
familiar is comfortable and comforting and so we cling to it. We are unwilling
to alter our patterns of consumption or adjust the priorities we have set for
our own lives, and encountering others and building relationships and real
communities is hard work. Indeed, I imagine that Jesus's call to "come,
follow me" (Matthew 4:19) must have struck at least a momentary terror in
even the hearts of those who became his most faithful disciples.
But we have no other choice. As Pope Francis warns us, we
live at a time when "[d]oomsday predictions can no longer be met with
irony or disdain. We may well be leaving to coming generations debris,
desolation and filth." (par. 161) The world is our common home; and its
fate is inseparable from our destiny.
— Michael Stafford
Michael Stafford is an
attorney and a syndicated Catholic political columnist. This article previously
appeared in ABC.