Pope Francis has finally presented the Laudato Si, where he reflects on the role of the economic power.  

Pope Francis published the long-awaited encyclical Laudato Si.  Through clear, direct and simple messages, he got deeply involved in the important issue of the environment. “We can sense a growing sensibility towards the environment and the care of nature. And an increasing sincere and painful concern on what is happening in our planet”, he said.

The Pontiff has not fail to expose his critical perspective by pointing out that “the speech on sustainable growth tends to become an exculpatory resource that takes values from the ecologic speech and puts them within the logic of finances and technocracy. Companies’ environmental and social responsibility tend to become a set of marketing and corporate image actions”.

The Encyclical is developed in six chapters, based on the most prestigious and advanced scientific knowledge, the Bible and the Judeo-Christian tradition, to detect the origins of the problem in technocracy and the excessive self-referential withdrawal of the human being.

The Encyclical proposes an “integrated ecology that clearly takes in the human and social dimensions”, which are inseparably linked to the environmental situation. Pope Francis suggests starting an honest dialogue in every level of social life, to enable more transparent decision making processes.

The text includes some of the most important issues, such as the “intimate relationship there is between poor people and the planet’s fragility, the conviction that the world is connected as a whole, the criticism to the new paradigm and the shapes of power derived from technology, the invitation to find other ways of understanding economy and progress, the value each creature has on its own, the human sense of ecology, the need of sincere and honest debates, the serious responsibility of international and local politics, the culture of disposal and the proposal of a new lifestyle”.

As regards climate change, the document states that “it is a global problem with serious environmental, social, economic, distributive and political dimensions, and it currently is one of the main challenges for humanity”.

The Argentinian Pope said that “weather is a common good, from and for everyone”. The most serious impact of its alteration affects the poorest, but many of those who “have more resources and economic or political power seem focused only on covering up the problem or hiding the symptoms”.

“The lack of a reaction to this sort of drama among our brothers and sisters is a sign of the loss of that sense of responsibility towards the others on which every civil society is built”, reflects the Pontiff.

Depriving the poor from the access to water means “denying them the right of life based on their inalienable dignity”.

“Every year thousands of vegetal and animal species are lost. Neither us nor our children will be able to see them as they are lost forever”.

These are not only temporary exploitable “resources”, they are valuable on their own.

From this perspective “efforts made by scientists and technicians to provide solutions for problems created by humanity are laudable and even admirable”. However, when that human intervention is used for finances and consumption “the land we live on becomes less rich and beautiful, more restricted and grey”.

In a passage that is quite sensitive for Latin America he refers to Amazonia and to the river basin of Congo as the “large lungs of the planet” and denounces that “we cannot ignore the great international economic interests that, under the pretext of taking care of them, may threaten national sovereignties”. “In fact there are proposal to internationalize Amazonia that only serve to the economic interests of transnational corporations”, he accuses.

In the context of an ethic for international relationships, the Encyclical states that there is “a real ecologic debt”, particularly from the North to the South of the world. There are “diversified responsibilities” on climate change, and developed countries have the largest share of these responsibilities.

The Latin American Pope states that the Church does not intend to define scientific matters or replace politics, but it promotes an honest and transparent debate so that particular needs or ideologies do not affect the common good.

Pope Francis is very critical when he refers to world summits on the environment: “world summits on the environment have be failing to satisfy expectations as they have not reached significant and effective global environment agreements due to the lack of political decision”.

The Pope claims that the world needs an agreement on the global governance regimes for all kinds of “global common goods”, as “environmental protection cannot be assured only by financial standards of costs and benefits. The environment is one of the goods that market mechanisms are not capable of protecting or promoting adequately.”

He points out the importance of developing honest and transparent decision making processes to “discern” those business policies and initiatives that lead to a “real comprehensive development”. The analysis of the environmental impact of a new project “demands political processes that are transparent and open to dialogue, while corruption, which hides the real impact of a project in exchange for favours, usually leads to illegitimate agreements that prevent extensive information and debate”.

A current and deep encyclical that addresses an issue that demands the commitment of all of us.

To read the entire text of the Encyclical Laudato Si, click here.