[Sundaycommunity] Fwd: APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION LAUDATE DEUM OF POPE FRANCIS FRANCIS TO ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS

[Catherine Walther]

I agree with Mary Lou. Thank you, Catherine

On Thu, Oct 5, 2023 at 11:15 AM Mary Lou Jorgensen-Bacher via
Sundaycommunity <sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:

> Thanks for sharing.  This is a real eye-opener for MOST people.  (50%
> PLUS!)  Thank YOU for reading the Pope's message, and for allowing us to *REALLY
> READ* about it.  (I do belong to the SIERRA CLUB, and I have been aware
> of all of the  "THINGS"  that have been happening to the world around us,
> but it was still  CHILLING!!!!!!!)  Thank you oh MYSTERY that we have
> people like the Pope to help us in our "DECISIONS", as we go about our
> DAY-TO-DAY lives.
>
>
>
>
> Keeper of the Flame
>
>
> On Thursday, October 5, 2023 at 06:19:37 a.m. EDT, Randolph Haluza-DeLay
> via Sundaycommunity <sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:
>
>
> Thanks for posting this. Another important step in helping us as believers
> and members of an institutional church toward ecological conversion
> (hearing and responding to the cry of the earth and the cry if the poor).
>
>
> Randy Haluza-DeLay
> Albertan in Toronto. Social scientist, cyclist, & root beer lover.
> Monthly column for Canadian Mennonite magazine, latest: "Thinking about
> Leisure"
> https://canadianmennonite.org/stories/thinking-about-leisure
>
> (Sent from teeny screen w thumbs-apologies for typing goofs!)
>
> On Wed, Oct 4, 2023, 12:33 Dean Riley via Sundaycommunity <
> sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:
>
> Pray that all will open their ears, hearts and minds….
>
> And that together in solidarity - we all be dedicated to preserving the
> planet - and with it - all life in its marvellous variety!
>
> Blessings on all!
>
> Dean.
>
> [image: image0.jpeg]
>
> -
>
> *APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION OF POPE FRANCIS*
>
> * 'LAUDATE DEUM'*
>
> *TO ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS*
>
> *“Laudate Deum”: the Pope’s cry for a response to the climate crisis*
>
> Pope Francis has published an Apostolic Exhortation building on his 2015
> encyclical. We’re not reacting enough, he says, we’re close to breaking
> point. He criticises climate change deniers, saying that the human origin
> of global warming is now beyond doubt. And he describes how care for our
> common home flows from the Christian faith.
>
> *Vatican News, October 4, 2023*
>
> “'Praise God' is the title of this letter.  For when human beings claim to
> take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies.” That’s how Pope
> Francis ends his new Apostolic Exhortation
> <https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20231004-laudate-deum.html>,
> published on the 4th October, the Feast of St Francis of Assisi. It’s a
> text in continuity with his 2015 encyclical *Laudato si’, *which is
> broader in scope. In six chapters and 73 paragraphs, the Successor of Peter
> tries to clarify and bring to completion that previous text on integral
> ecology, while at the same time sounding an alarm, and a call for
> co-responsibility, in the face of the climate emergency.
>
> In particular, the Exhortation looks ahead to COP28, which will be held in
> Dubai between the end of November and beginning of December. The Holy
> Father writes: “With the passage of time, I have realized that our
> responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is
> collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point. In addition to this
> possibility, it is indubitable that the impact of climate change will
> increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons” (2).
>
> It's “one of the principal challenges facing society and the global
> community” and “the effects of climate change are borne by the most
> vulnerable people, whether at home or around the world” (3).
>
> *Signs of climate change increasingly evident*
>
> The first chapter
> <https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20231004-laudate-deum.html> is
> dedicated to the global climate crisis. “Despite all attempts to deny,
> conceal, gloss over or relativize the issue, the signs of climate change
> are here and increasingly evident,” says the Pope. He goes on to observe
> that “in recent years we have witnessed extreme weather phenomena, frequent
> periods of unusual heat, drought and other cries of protest on the part of
> the earth”, a “silent disease that affects everyone.”
>
> Moreover, Pope Francis says, “it is verifiable that specific climate
> changes provoked by humanity are notably heightening the probability of
> extreme phenomena that are increasingly frequent and intense.”
>
> Now, the Holy Father explains, if global temperature increases by more
> than two degrees, “the icecaps of Greenland and a large part of Antarctica
> will melt completely, with immensely grave consequences for everyone” (5).
>
> Speaking of those who play down climate change, he responds: “what we are
> presently experiencing is an unusual acceleration of warming, at such a
> speed that it will take only one generation – not centuries or millennia –
> in order to verify it.” “Probably in a few years many populations will have
> to move their homes because of these facts” (6). Extreme colds, too, are
> “alternative expressions of the same cause” (7).
>
> *Not the fault of the poor*
>
> “In an attempt to simplify reality,” Pope Francis writes, “there are those
> who would place responsibility on the poor, since they have many children,
> and even attempt to resolve the problem by mutilating women in less
> developed countries.” “As usual, it would seem that everything is the fault
> of the poor.  Yet the reality is that a low, richer percentage of the
> planet contaminates more than the poorest 50% of the total world
> population, and that per capita emissions of the richer countries are much
> greater than those of the poorer ones.”
>
> “How can we forget that Africa, home to more than half of the world’s
> poorest people, is responsible for a minimal portion of historic
> emissions?” (9). The Pope also challenges of those who say efforts to
> mitigate climate change by reducing the use of fossil fuels “will lead to a
> reduction in the number of jobs.”
>
> What is happening, in fact, is that “millions of people are losing their
> jobs due to different effects of climate change: rising sea levels,
> droughts and other phenomena affecting the planet have left many people
> adrift.”
>
> At the same time, “the transition to renewable forms of energy, properly
> managed” is capable of “generating countless jobs in different sectors.
> This demands that politicians and business leaders should even now be
> concerning themselves with it” (10).
>
> *Indubitable human origins*
>
> *“*It is no longer possible to doubt the human – ‘anthropic’ – origin of
> climate change,” the Pope says. *“*The concentration of greenhouse gases
> in the atmosphere … was stable until the nineteenth century … In the past
> fifty years, this increase has accelerated significantly” (11).
>
> At the same time, global temperature “has risen at an unprecedented speed,
> greater than any time over the past two thousand years.  In this period,
> the trend was a warming of 0.15° C per decade, double that of the last 150
> years …  At this rate, it is possible that in just ten years we will reach
> the recommended maximum global ceiling of 1.5° C” (12).
>
> This has resulted in acidification of the seas and the melting of
> glaciers. “It is not possible to conceal” the correlation between these
> events and the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, the Holy
> Father bitterly observes, “the climate crisis is not exactly a matter that
> interests the great economic powers, whose concern is with the greatest
> profit possible at minimal cost and in the shortest amount of time” (13).
>
> *Barely in time to avoid more terrible damage*
>
> *“*I feel obliged,” continues Pope Francis, “to make these
> clarifications, which may appear obvious, because of certain dismissive and
> scarcely reasonable opinions that I encounter, even within the Catholic
> Church.” Yet, “we can no longer doubt that the reason for the unusual
> rapidity of these dangerous changes is a fact that cannot be concealed: the
> enormous novelties that have to do with unchecked human intervention on
> nature in the past two centuries” (14).
>
> Unfortunately, some effects of this climate crisis are already
> irreversible, for at least several hundred years, and “the melting of the
> poles will not be able to be reversed for hundreds of years” (16).
>
> We are, then, barely in time to avoid even more terrible damage. The Pope
> writes that “certain apocalyptic diagnoses may well appear scarcely
> reasonable or insufficiently grounded”, but “we cannot state with
> certainty” what is going to happen. (17).
>
> Therefore, “a broader perspective is urgently needed …  What is being
> asked of us is nothing other than a certain responsibility for the legacy
> we will leave behind, once we pass from this world” (18). Recalling the
> experience of the Covid-19 pandemic, Pope Francis repeats that “Everything
> is connected and no one is saved alone” (19).
>
> *The technocratic paradigm: the idea of a human being without limits*
>
> In the second chapter, the Pope speaks of the technocratic paradigm which
> consists in thinking that “reality, goodness and truth automatically flow
> from technological and economic power as such” (20) and “monstrously feeds
> upon itself” (21), taking its inspiration from the idea of a human being
> without limitations. “Never has humanity had such power over itself,” the
> Holy Father continues, “yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely,
> particularly when we consider how it is currently being used … It is
> extremely risky for a small part of humanity to have it” (23).
>
> Unfortunately – as demonstrated, too, by the atomic bomb – “our immense
> technological development has not been accompanied by a development in
> human responsibility, values and conscience” (24). The Pope reaffirms that
> “the world that surrounds us is not an object of exploitation, unbridled
> use and unlimited ambition” (25). He reminds us that we, too, are part of
> nature, and that this “excludes the idea that the human being is
> extraneous, a foreign element capable only of harming the environment.
> Human beings must be recognized as a part of nature” (26); “human groupings
> have often ‘created’ an environment” (27).
>
> *The ethical decadence of power: marketing and fake news*
>
> We have made “impressive and awesome technological advances, and we have
> not realized that at the same time we have turned into highly dangerous
> beings, capable of threatening the lives of many beings and our own
> survival” (28). “The ethical decadence of real power is disguised thanks to
> marketing and false information, useful tools in the hands of those with
> greater resources to employ them to shape public opinion.”
>
> Through these mechanisms, people in areas where polluting projects are to
> be implemented are deceived, convinced that economic and employment
> opportunities will be generated, but “they are not clearly told that the
> project will result in … a desolate and less habitable landscape” (29) and
> a clear decline in quality of life.
>
> “The mentality of maximum gain at minimal cost, disguised in terms of
> reasonableness, progress and illusory promises, makes impossible any
> sincere concern for our common home and any real preoccupation about
> assisting the poor and the needy discarded by our society … astounded and
> excited by the promises of any number of false prophets, the poor
> themselves at times fall prey to the illusion of a world that is not being
> built for them” (31). There exists, then, “rule by those born with greater
> possibilities and advantages” (32). Pope Francis invites these individuals
> to ask themselves, “with an eye to the children who will pay for the harm
> done by their actions” (33), what the meaning of their life is.
>
> *Weak international politics*
>
> In the next chapter of the Exhortation, the pope addresses the weakness of
> international politics, insisting on the need to foster “multilateral
> agreements between States” (34). He explains that “when we talk about the
> possibility of some form of world authority regulated by law, we need not
> necessarily think of a personal authority” but of “more effective world
> organizations, equipped with the power to provide for the global common
> good, the elimination of hunger and poverty and the sure defence of
> fundamental human rights”.
>
> These, he says, “must be endowed with real authority, in such a way as to
> provide for the attainment of certain essential goals” (35). Pope Francis
> deplores that “global crises are being squandered when they could be the
> occasions to bring about beneficial changes. This is what happened in the
> 2007-2008 financial crisis and again in the Covid-19 crisis”, which led to
> “greater individualism, less integration and increased freedom for the
> truly powerful, who always find a way to escape unscathed” (36).
>
> “More than saving the old multilateralism, it appears that the current
> challenge is to reconfigure and recreate it, taking into account the new
> world situation” (37),  recognising that many civil society aggregations
> and organizations help compensate for the weaknesses of the international
> community. The Pope cites the Ottawa process on landmines, which, he says,
> shows how civil society creates efficient dynamics that the UN does not
> achieve.
>
> *Useless institutions that preserve the strongest*
>
> What Pope Francis is proposing is a “multilateralism ‘from below’ and not
> simply one determined by the elites of power …  It is to be hoped that this
> will happen with respect to the climate crisis.  For this reason, I
> reiterate that “unless citizens control political power – national,
> regional and municipal – it will not be possible to control damage to the
> environment” (38). After reaffirming the primacy of the human person, Pope
> Francis explains – speaking of the defense of human dignity in all
> circumstances – that “It is not a matter of replacing politics, but of
> recognizing that the emerging forces are becoming increasingly relevant”.
>
> “The very fact,” he says, “that answers to problems can come from any
> country, however little, ends up presenting multilateralism as an
> inevitable process” (40).
>
> Therefore, “a different framework for effective cooperation is required.
> It is not enough to think only of balances of power but also of the need to
> provide a response to new problems and to react with global mechanisms”; it
> is a matter of “establishing global and effective rules” (42).
>
> “All this presupposes the development of a new procedure for
> decision-making”; what is required are “spaces for conversation,
> consultation, arbitration, conflict resolution and supervision, and, in the
> end, a sort of increased “democratization” in the global context, so that
> the various situations can be expressed and included.  It is no longer
> helpful for us to support institutions in order to preserve the rights of
> the more powerful without caring for those of all” (43).
>
> *Climate conferences*
>
> In the following chapter, Francis describes the various climate
> conferences held to date. He recalls the one in Paris, the agreement
> resulting from which came into effect in November 2016. Although “a binding
> agreement, not all its dispositions are obligations in the strict sense,
> and some of them leave ample room for discretion” (47). Moreover, there are
> no sanctions for failure to meet obligations, and there is a lack of
> effective tools to enforce the agreement, as well as no real sanctions, and
> no effective tools to ensure compliance. Additionally, “work is still under
> way to consolidate concrete procedures for monitoring and to facilitate
> general criteria for comparing the objectives of the different countries”
> (48).
>
> The Pope mentions his disappointment with the Madrid COP and recalls that
> the Glasgow COP revived the Paris goals, with many “recommendations”, but
> “proposals tending to ensure a rapid and effective transition to
> alternative and less polluting forms of energy made no progress” (49).
>
> COP27, held in Egypt in 2022, was “one more example of the difficulty of
> negotiations”, and even though it “marked a step forward in consolidating a
> system for financing ‘loss and damage’ in countries most affected by
> climate disasters”, this remained “imprecise” (51) on many points.
> International negotations, the Pope concludes, “cannot make significant
> progress due to positions taken by countries which place their national
> interests above the global common good.  Those who will have to suffer the
> consequences of what we are trying to hide will not forget this failure of
> conscience and responsibility” (52).
>
> *What to expect from the Dubai COP?*
>
> Looking ahead to COP, Pope Francis writes that “to say that there is
> nothing to hope for would be suicidal, for it would mean exposing all
> humanity, especially the poorest, to the worst impacts of climate change”
> (53). We must, says the Pope, “keep hoping that COP28 will allow for a
> decisive acceleration of energy transition, with effective commitments
> subject to ongoing monitoring.  This Conference can represent a change of
> direction” (54).
>
> The Holy Father observes that “the necessary transition towards clean
> energy sources such as wind and solar energy, and the abandonment of fossil
> fuels, is not progressing at the necessary speed.  Consequently, whatever
> is being done risks being seen only as a ploy to distract attention” (55).
> We cannot search merely for a technological solution to our problems: “we
> risk remaining trapped in the mindset of pasting and papering over cracks,
> while beneath the surface there is a continuing deterioration to which we
> continue to contribute” (57).
>
> *No more ridiculing of environmental questions*
>
> Pope Francis asks us to put an end to “the irresponsible derision that
> would present this issue as something purely ecological, “green”, romantic,
> frequently subject to ridicule by economic interests.” “Let us finally
> admit that it is a human and social problem on any number of levels.  For
> this reason, it calls for involvement on the part of all.”
>
> On the subject of protests by groups “negatively portrayed as
> radicalized”, Pope Francis affirms that “in reality they are filling a
> space left empty by society as a whole, which ought to exercise a healthy
> “pressure”, since every family ought to realize that the future of their
> children is at stake” (58).
>
> “May those taking part in the Conference be strategists capable of
> considering the common good and the future of their children, more than the
> short-term interests of certain countries or businesses.  In this way, may
> they demonstrate the nobility of politics and not its shame.  To the
> powerful, I can only repeat this question: “What would induce anyone, at
> this stage, to hold on to power, only to be remembered for their inability
> to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so?” (60).
>
> *A commitment that flows from the Christian faith*
>
> Finally, the Pope reminds his readers that the motivations for this
> commitment flow from the Christian faith, encouraging “my brothers and
> sisters of other religions to do the same” (61). “The Judaeo-Christian
> vision of the cosmos defends the unique and central value of the human
> being amid the marvellous concert of all God’s creatures,” but “as part of
> the universe, all of us are linked by unseen bonds and together form a kind
> of universal family, a sublime communion which fills us with a sacred,
> affectionate and humble respect” (67).
>
> “This is not a product of our own will; its origin lies elsewhere, in the
> depths of our being, since God has joined us so closely to the world around
> us” (68). What is important, Pope Francis writes, is to remember that
> “there are no lasting changes without cultural changes, without a maturing
> of lifestyles and convictions within societies, and there are no cultural
> changes without personal changes” (70).
>
> “Efforts by households to reduce pollution and waste, and to consume with
> prudence, are creating a new culture.  The mere fact that personal, family
> and community habits are changing is … helping to bring about large
> processes of transformation rising from deep within society” (71).
>
> The Holy Father ends his Exhortation with a reminder that “emissions per
> individual in the United States are about two times greater than those of
> individuals living in China, and about seven times greater than the average
> of the poorest countries.”
>
> He goes on to affirm that “a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle
> connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact.
> As a result, along with indispensable political decisions, we would be
> making progress along the way to genuine care for one another” (72).
>
> *Link:*
> https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-10/laudate-deum-pope-francis-climate-crisis-laudato-si.html
>
> *Laudate Deum: Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis*
>
>
> https://www.humandevelopment.va/en/news/2023/laudate-deum-apostolic-exhortation-of-pope-francis.html
>
> *Video Laudate Deum: Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis*
>
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwe_bd0TUjk&list=PLnS3YdZwNB2x1434IYXDiaZojPjXhoHmy&index=1
> [image: Infographic Laudate Deum.jpg]
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