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3rd Installment Laudato Si’ excerpts:
Intro: The following is installment #3 of the excerpts from Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si’, broken down into why we should care, the problems of the earth, and what we can do about it (the hope). Section numbers are indicated in parentheses:
Why: Each community can take from the bounty of the earth whatever it needs for subsistence, but it also has the duty to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations. (67) The protection of the environment is in fact “an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it”. (141)
The Problem: Some circles maintain that current economics and technology will solve all environmental problems, and argue, in popular and non-technical terms, that the problems of global hunger and poverty will be resolved simply by market growth. They are less concerned with certain economic theories which today scarcely anybody dares defend, than with their actual operation in the functioning of the economy. They may not affirm such theories with
words, but nonetheless support them with their deeds by showing no interest in more
balanced levels of production, a better distribution of wealth, concern for the environment and
the rights of future generations. (109)
The Hope: Productive diversification offers the fullest possibilities to human ingenuity to create and innovate, while at the same time protecting the environment and creating more sources of employment. (192) Social problems must be addressed by community networks and not simply by the sum of individual good deeds. This task “will make such tremendous demands of man that he could never achieve it by individual initiative or even by the united effort of men bred in an individualistic way.” (219)
https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf
2nd Installment Laudato Si’ excerpts:
First Installment Laudato Si' excerpts
