Vatican City, Jun 18, 2015 / 11:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Despite many claiming they helped to draft Pope Francis' new encyclical, the final text cannot be attributed to any 'hidden' advisors, says a former Vatican official. The proof, he says, is shown by the fact that the encyclical stands on the shoulders of previous magisterial teachings. The encyclical, “Laudato Si,” meaning “Praise be to You,” was published June 18. Its name is taken from St. Francis of Assisi's “The Canticle of the Sun.” In early 2014, the Vatican announced the Pope's plans to write on the theme of “human ecology” – a phrase that was originally coined by Benedict XVI. While the encyclical wades into controversial topics such as climate change, it also aggressively argues that it isn't possible to effectively care for the environment without first working to defend human life. Bishop Mario Toso of Faenza-Modigliana previously served as secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, from 2009 until this January, when he was transferred to the small diocese in Italy's Emilia-Romagna region. While at the pontifical council, Bishop Toso was able to examine the encyclical's first draft. “There is no doubt that many contributions, many suggestions, have been forwarded for the drafting of the encyclical,” Bishop Toso noted to CNA June 17. On the other hand, he added, “any single contribution, if accepted, has been used in a framework that could not be provided by these single contributions – while it is provided from the continuity with the foregoing Magisterium.” Following the first rumors about the contents of the encyclical, the controversial Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff – one of the fathers of Liberation Theology, who has recently refocused his reflections onto the environment – said he had contributed to drafting the encyclical. Even the Brazilian theologians Frei Betto and Fr. Pedro Casaldiga allegedly gave their contribution in drafting the encyclical. Among the other alleged contributions to the encyclical, that of the former governor of Colorado, Bill Ritter. A member of the board of the Energy Foundation, he told “The Colorado Statesman” June 12 that he “did spend time in Rome meeting with the Vatican’s policy team drafting the Papal Encyclical.” The ‘team’ Bill Ritter referred to is probably one of the informal meetings set up by the Pontifical Academy for Sciences. These meetings provided suggestions for the much awaited encyclical, while many companies also sent to the Vatican materials on the way they protected environment, hoping for a papal endorsement. Despite there having been so many contributions, Bishop Toso maintained that the “ground framework of the encyclical is given by the continuity of the tradition of Catholic social teaching and by the work of the perhaps more invisible and less outspoken hands of people who work within the Vatican and who know quite well the social teaching of the Church.” “Only these people can talk about ecological issues standing on a theological, anthropological, and ethical point of view,” Bishop Toso maintained. Read more

Vatican City, Jun 18, 2015 / 10:39 am (CNA).- Pope Francis' new encyclical, Laudato Si, was published today. The full text can be accessed at the Vatican website:http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html Read more

Vatican City, Jun 18, 2015 / 04:14 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis' new encyclical on the environment calls for men and women to acknowledge their bodies as a gift from God which should not be manipulated. “The acceptance of our bodies as God's gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home,” the Pope wrote, “whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation.” The Pope's encyclical “Laudato Si,” meaning “Praise be to You,” was published Thursday, June 18. Its name is taken from St. Francis of Assisi's medieval Italian prayer “Canticle of the Sun,” which praises God through elements of creation like Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and “our sister Mother Earth.” In early 2014, the Vatican announced the Pope's plans to write on the theme of “human ecology” – a phrase that was previously used by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. While the 184-page encyclical wades into controversial topics such as climate change, it also aggressively argues that it is not possible to effectively care for the environment without first working to defend human life and dignity. The Pope wrote that human ecology implies the profound reality of “the relationship between human life and the moral law, which is inscribed in our nature and is necessary for the creation of a more dignified environment.” Pope Francis quoted from his predecessor, Benedict XVI, saying that there is an “ecology of man” because “man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will.” Benedict's words came from his Sept. 22, 2011 address to the German parliament on the foundations of law. He had discussed the importance of the ecological movement for its realization that “the earth has a dignity of its own and that we must follow its directives.” Man, he added, “does not create himself. He is intellect and will, but he is also nature, and his will is rightly ordered if he respects his nature, listens to it and accepts himself for who he is, as one who did not create himself.” After quoting Benedict, Pope Francis said that “our body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings,” and that the acceptance of one's body helps one to accept and honor the entire world as a gift. “Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology.” He then turned to the importance of sexual complementarity, adding that “valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment.” Pope Francis referred to his own General Audience address of April 15, saying that “It is not a healthy attitude which would seek 'to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it.'” In that address, on the complementarity of man and woman, he had touched on the importance of the two sexes and their reciprocal needs. He lamented that contemporary culture has introduced doubt and skepticism over sexual complementarity: “For example, I ask myself, if the so-called gender theory is not, at the same time, an expression of frustration and resignation, which seeks to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it … the removal of difference in fact creates a problem, not a solution.” Pope Francis' jab at gender theory – which gives a basis for transgender identification – in his encyclical came in the context of a discussion on the “ecology of daily life,” during which he also discussed integral improvement in the quality of human life; creativity in responding to one's environment; the brutality arising from poverty; urban planning; lack of housing; public transportation; and rural life. The larger context of the Pope's words on the ecology of daily life came in his chapter on integral ecology, during which he also mentioned environmental, economic, and social ecology; cultural ecology; the common good; and inter-generational justice.   Read more

Vatican City, Jun 18, 2015 / 04:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his new encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis slams attacks against human life such as abortion, embryonic experimentation and population control – saying that respect for creation and human dignity go hand in hand. The Pope explained that “a sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings.” “At times we see an obsession with denying any pre-eminence to the human person; more zeal is shown in protecting other species than in defending the dignity which all human beings share in equal measure,” he said. The Pope's encyclical “Laudato Si,” meaning “Praise be to You,” was published Thursday, June 18. Its name is taken from St. Francis of Assisi's medieval Italian prayer “Canticle of the Sun,” which praises God through elements of creation like Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and “our sister Mother Earth.” In early 2014, the Vatican announced the Pope's plans to write on the theme of “human ecology” – a phrase that was previously used by retired pontiff Benedict XVI. While the 184-page encyclical wades into controversial topics such as climate change, it also aggressively argues that it is not possible to effectively care for the environment without first working to defend human life. It is “clearly inconsistent” to combat the trafficking of endangered species while remaining indifferent toward the trafficking of persons, to the poor and to the decision of many “to destroy another human being deemed unwanted,” the Pope stated. To have this attitude, he said, “compromises the very meaning of our struggle for the sake of the environment.” Francis also highlighted that concern for the protection of nature is “incompatible with the justification of abortion.” “How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties?” he asked. Once the ability to welcome a new life is lost on the part of individuals and society, other forms of acceptance also “wither away,” he said, warning against a “culture of relativism” that sees an absence of any objective truth outside of our own immediate wants and needs. The Pope also addressed the highly-debated topic of population control, a proposed solution to problems stemming from poverty and maintaining a sustainable consumption of the earth’s resources. “Instead of resolving the problems of the poor and thinking of how the world can be different, some can only propose a reduction in the birth rate,” Francis lamented. He denounced the fact that developing countries often receive pressure from international organizations who make economic assistance “contingent on certain policies of 'reproductive health.'” Even though an unequal distribution of population and available resources presents obstacles to development and environmental sustainability, “it must nonetheless be recognized that demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development,” he stressed. To blame a growing population for these problems rather than the “extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues.” Such scapegoating “is an attempt to legitimize the present model of distribution, where a minority believes that it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized, since the planet could not even contain the waste products of such consumption,” the Pope said, calling for an end to food waste. Francis also rejected some ecological movements’ discontinuity in calling for limitations to be placed on environmental scientific research, while at the same time failing to apply the same principals to human life. As an example, he noted that within science, there is “a tendency to justify transgressing all boundaries when experimentation is carried out on living human embryos.” “We forget that the inalienable worth of a human being transcends his or her degree of development,” he said, adding that once technology disregards ethical principles, “it ends up considering any practice whatsoever as licit.” “When we fail to acknowledge as part of reality the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, a person with disabilities – to offer just a few examples – it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself; everything is connected.” Once the human being seeks absolute dominion, the foundations of our life “begin to crumble,” the Pope said, so that instead of cooperating with God, man puts himself in God’s place “and thus ends up provoking a rebellion on the part of nature.” In the encyclical, Pope Francis also spoke of the importance of accepting and caring for one’s body, since it is through the body that man relates to the environment and to other living things. He cautioned against seeking to exercise “absolute power” over our bodies as if they were something that we own, saying that “man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will.” Accepting and caring for our bodies in their truest nature is essential for human ecology, he said, and stressed that this acceptance includes “valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity.” In acknowledging differences, “we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment,” the Pope observed. An attitude which seeks “to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it” is unhealthy, he said. The pontiff also pointed to the important role families play in educating on a true integral human and environmental ecology since they are the place where life is welcomed and protected, and where human growth is developed. “In the face of the so-called culture of death, the family is the heart of the culture of life,” he said. Family life is where children first learn how “to show love and respect for life; we are taught the proper use of things, order and cleanliness, respect for the local ecosystem and care for all creatures,” as well as how to be grateful for what they’ve been given and to ask for forgiveness when they’ve caused harm, he explained. “These simple gestures of heartfelt courtesy help to create a culture of shared life and respect for our surroundings.”   Read more

Vatican City, Jun 18, 2015 / 04:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his newly released encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis did not hesitate to wade into controversial topics, making statements on global warming, pollution, species extinction and global ... Read more

Vatican City, Jun 17, 2015 / 07:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Several enthusiastic seminarians met with Benedict XVI at the Vatican Gardens on Tuesday – even though it is their exam time, they did not want to miss the chance to meet the Pope emeritus. ... Read more

Vatican City, Jun 17, 2015 / 11:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Instead of blaming God when a parent loses a child – or vice versa – families should remember that because of Christ's resurrection death does not have the final say, Pope Francis said. “For parents, outliving their own children is especially devastating, (as it) goes against the basic nature of the relationship which gives meaning to the family itself,” the Pope said during his Wednesday general audience. Losing one's child is like “stopping time,” he said, since it “opens a chasm which swallows the past as well as the future.” The Pope's June 17 reflection was the latest in a series of catecheses on the family delivered each week at the Wednesday general audience in the Vatican. Since last Fall, the Pope has been focusing on this theme as part of the lead up to the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September, and the Synod on the Family in October. The death of a son or daughter, is an “insult” to all the promises, gifts, and sacrifices “of joyful love” which a parent gives their child. Similarly, children who have lost one or both parents likewise suffer, he said. “The emptiness of abandonment which opens within him is all the more distressing because he lacks the the experience necessary to 'give a name' to what has happened.” Because of this “black hole” brought about by a death in the family, the reasons for which are not known, we sometimes “blame God,” he said. Pope Francis based his address on the Gospel reading delivered during the audience, in which Saint Luke gives an account of Jesus raising the widow's son from the dead. This scene demonstrates both Jesus' compassion for those who suffer, and His power over death, he said. All families, “without exception,” experience death, the pontiff said. Nonetheless, when it strikes a beloved family member, death never seems natural. However, the Pope said to be aware of other “accomplices” to physical death – “hate, envy, pride, greed” – which add to the agony and sense of injustice. “We think of the absurd 'normality' with which, in certain times and places, events which add to the horror of death are caused by hatred and indifference for other human beings,” he said. In contrast, many families who are counted among God's people have demonstrated that death does not have the final word. “This is a true act of faith,” Pope Francis said. Whenever a family who is in mourning “finds the strength to protect the faith and the love which unites as to all those we love,” he added, “this prevents death from taking everything. The darkness of death is confronted with a more intense work of love.” Citing the words of Saint Paul, the Pope reminded the faithful that Christ's Resurrection has removed from death its “sting.” “In this faith, we can comfort one another, knowing that the Lord has defeated death once and for all,” he said. “Our loved ones are not lost in the darkness of oblivion: hope assures us that they are in the benevolent and powerful hands of God. Love is stronger than death.” The Pope added that, in maintaining this faith, the experience of mourning acts to strengthen solidarity within ones own family, and promotes an awareness of the suffering of other families. “This faith, this hope, protects us from a nihilistic vision of death, as well as the false consolations of the world,” he said. Pope Francis concluded his address by stressing it is important for pastors and Christians to communicate more concretely “the meaning of the faith with regard to the experience of mourning in the family.” He drew attention to the “simple and strong” witness of many families who grasp, through their faith in the Lord's crucifixion and death, the “irrevocable promise of the resurrection of the dead.” “God's work of love is stronger than the work of death.” Read more

Vatican City, Jun 17, 2015 / 10:18 am (Aid to the Church in Need).- Speaking one day before its official release to the public, Pope Francis is asking for people to have an “open heart” when they read his latest encyclical dedicated to the environment. “Our 'home' is being ruined, and this hurts everyone, especially the poorest among us,” the pontiff said at the conclusion of his weekly general audience on June 17. The Pope’s second encyclical will be released June 18. It will deal with creation and the human ecology, examining man's responsibility in caring for the earth. The document is entitled “Laudato Si” – meaning “Praised be You.” It is taken from St. Francis of Assisi’s medieval Italian prayer “Canticle of the Sun,” which praises God through elements of creation like Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and “our sister Mother Earth.” “My appeal, therefore, is for responsibility,” he said, which is “based on the task which God gave to man in creation: 'to till and protect' the 'garden' in which he has been placed.” “I invite everyone to receive this new document with an open heart, which places itself along the lines of the Church's social doctrine.”   Read more