Pope Francis Calls Christians to Protect the Gift of Creation: Do Not Fear Papal Letter on the Environment

What is called global warming or climate change is one of those areas where the exercise of prudential judgment can find good Catholics and other Christians differing with one another. When we do, we should do so with charity.

Our obligation to live a proper stewardship of the environment is grounded in our obligation to - and solidarity with - one another. It begins with the understanding that we have been given to one another as gifts. In addition, creation is a gift, entrusted to us together as a human community. That brings with it responsibilities which we must find a way to share. Benedict XVI encouraged a proper approach to our responsibility for creation and exposed the dangers within certain streams of contemporary environmentalism. So does Pope Francis. We have an obligation to care for the creation which we have abused.It is a part of our Baptismal obligation and our call to discipleship.

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - In his homily for daily Mass on Monday, February 9, 2015, Pope Francis used the first reading, the creation account taken from the Book of Genesis, (Gen 1: 1-19) to again weigh in on  our obligation to be good stewards of creation.

After all, creation itself is a gift, entrusted to us by God. We need to receive it as a gift and continue his loving cultivation.

Catholics have always been 'green', if the term is properly understood.Oh, I know, many are nearly apoplectic in anticipation of the upcoming papal encyclical concerning the environment. I look forward to it.

Our obligation to live a proper stewardship of the environment is grounded in our obligation to - and solidarity with - one another. It begins with the understanding that we have been given to one another as gifts. In addition, creation is a gift, entrusted to us, together, as a human community. That brings with it responsibilities which we must find a way to share.

In a letter on the environment released on January 1, 2010, Pope Emeritus Benedict explained, "There exists a certain reciprocity: as we care for creation, we realize that God, through creation, cares for us. On the other hand, a correct understanding of the relationship between man and the environment will not end by absolutizing nature or by considering it more important than the human person."

"If the Church's magisterium expresses grave misgivings about notions of the environment inspired by ecocentrism and biocentrism, it is because such notions eliminate the difference of identity and worth between the human person and other living things."

"In the name of a supposedly egalitarian vision of the "dignity" of all living creatures, such notions end up abolishing the distinctiveness and superior role of human beings. They also open the way to a new pantheism tinged with neo-paganism, which would see the source of man's salvation in nature alone, understood in purely naturalistic terms."

Benedict XVI encouraged a proper approach to our responsibility for creation and exposed the dangers within certain streams of contemporary environmentalism. So does Pope Francis. We have an obligation to care for the creation which we have abused. It is a part of our Baptismal obligation and our call to discipleship.

What is now routinely called global warming or climate change is one of those areas where the exercise of prudential judgment can find good Catholics and other Christians differing with one another. When we do, we should do so with charity.

The Catholic Church has been green for a lot longer than any modern environmental movement. We are called to what I call a relational environmentalism; one of stewardship with the earth which God has made and entrusted to us to care for and to share. For those eager to understand Catholic teaching on this vital topic, we should always begin with scripture and tradition.

We have a wellspring of teaching in the Church on our relationship to the gift of God's creation. The concern I have about some of the arguments concerning what is now called global warming or climate change is that they promote one more charged right vs. left political food fight.In so doing, they also do a disservice to the contribution the Catholic church can offer to the ongoing discussion. That contribution is bigger than partisan politics.

Sadly, they often use conflicting scientific data as fodder for the charged political food fight. We are not first political conservatives or liberals, we are first, last and all in between, Christians. I am a Catholic Christian. I seek to inform my participation in every social issue with the values and principles offered in Christian Social Teaching.

In addition to affirming our obligations as stewards of the gift of creation, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church warns us about adopting a misguided approach. For example in paragraph # 463 we read, 'A correct understanding of the environment prevents the utilitarian reduction of nature to a mere object to be manipulated and exploited.'

'At the same time, it must not absolutize nature and place it above the dignity of the human person himself. In this latter case, one can go so far as to divinize nature or the earth, as can readily be seen in certain ecological movements that seek to gain an internationally guaranteed institutional status for their beliefs.'

'The Magisterium finds the motivation for its opposition to a concept of the environment based on ecocentrism and on biocentrism in the fact that "it is being proposed that the ontological and axiological difference between men and other living beings be eliminated, since the biosphere is considered a biotic unity of undifferentiated value. Thus man's superior responsibility can be eliminated in favor of an egalitarian consideration of the 'dignity' of all living beings'.

Some in what is called the green movement today have lost their way. The most obvious example is the inherent contradiction of worrying about polluting the atmosphere with toxic chemicals while at the same time supporting making toxic chemicals available to be ingested by mothers, in order to kill the children in their womb through intentional abortion.

We need a new way of being green, a Catholic way, which is a classically Christian way. It begins with reaffirming that Christians are called to care for, cultivate and be good stewards of  God's creation. That was the message Francis offered at Mass this morning at the Casa Santa Marta.

God created the universe and "he continues to sustain what he has created", said Pope Francis. As a good preacher, he then tied in the Gospel passage of the the Mass of the day (Mark 6:53-56) with the first reading. He used imagery common in the writings of the early fathers of the Church, reminding the faithful that Jesus, the Word through whom the universe was created, began a new creation in His saving life, death and resurrection.

The Vatican puts out a daily summary of these good homilies. The following is their summary of this one.

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"In today's Gospel", the Pope commented, we see "the other creation of God", "that of Jesus, who came to re-create what had been ruined by sin."

We see Jesus among the people, he said, and "those who touched him were saved" it is the "re-creation". "This 'second creation' Pope Francis, is even more wonderful than the first; This second work is wonderful. "Finally, there is "another job", that of "perseverance in the faith" that which the Holy Spirit works on:

"God works, continues to work, and we can ask ourselves how we should respond to this creation of God, which is born of love, because he works through love. In the 'first creation' we must respond with the responsibility that the Lord gives us: 'The earth is yours, take it forward; let it grow '. Even for us there is a responsibility to nurture the Earth, to nurture Creation, to keep it and make it grow according to its laws. We are the lords of creation, not its masters. "
 
The Pope warned, however, that we must be "careful not to become masters of Creation, but to make it go forward, faithful to its laws." Therefore, he added, "this is the first response to the work of God: to be protectors of Creation":
 
"When we hear that people have meetings about how to preserve creation, we can say: 'No, they are the greens!' No, they are not the greens! This is the Christian! This is 'our response to the' first creation 'of God. And' our responsibility. A Christian who does not protect Creation, who does not let it grow, is a Christian who does not care about the work of God, that work that was born from the love of God for us. And this is the first response to the first creation: protect creation, make it grow. "
 
On the subject of the "second creation Pope Francis looked to the figure of Saint Paul saying, this Saint tells us to let ourselves be "reconciled to God", "go on the road of inner reconciliation, community reconciliation, because reconciliation is the work of Christ." And again, echoing the words of Saint Paul, the Pope said that we should be grieved that the Holy Spirit is within us, that he is within us and works in us. The Holy Father added that we "believe in the person of God": "the person is the Father, Son and the person of the Holy Spirit":
 
"And all three are involved in this creation, in this re-creation, in this perseverance in re-creation. And to all three of them our response is: to preserve and nurture Creation, let ourselves be reconciled with Jesus, with God in Jesus Christ, every day, and do not be grieved by the Holy Spirit, not drive it away: he is the host of our hearts, he who accompanies us, he who makes us grow. "
 
"May the Lord - Pope Francis concluded - give us the grace to understand that he" is at work "and give us the grace to respond appropriately to this labor of love."

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On June 5, 2013, Francis specifically addressed this issue of our stewardship of the environment in a teaching given during his general audience. I conclude with a rather lengthy quote for my readers, for good reason. It is vitally important to actually read what Pope Francis says - not what someone with an agenda says.

As we get closer to the anticipated release of his encyclical letter on the environment, and its treatment of our obligation to environmental stewardship, many articles are appearing on the subject. They are filled with speculation. Some are causing fear among the faithful. 

Do not be afraid. Jesus is Lord of His Church.

Here is the quote from Pope Francis last year. It is a good bellwether of where this encyclical is heading.

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Pope Francis on the Environment

When we talk about the environment, about creation, my thoughts turn to the first pages of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, which states that God placed man and woman on earth to cultivate and care for it (cf. 2:15). And the question comes to my mind: What does cultivating and caring for the earth mean? Are we truly cultivating and caring for creation? Or are we exploiting and neglecting it?

The verb "to cultivate" reminds me of the care that the farmer has for his land so that it bear fruit, and it is shared: how much attention, passion and dedication! Cultivating and caring for creation is God's indication given to each one of us not only at the beginning of history; it is part of His project; it means nurturing the world with responsibility and transforming it into a garden, a habitable place for everyone.

Benedict XVI recalled several times that this task entrusted to us by God the Creator requires us to grasp the rhythm and logic of creation. But we are often driven by pride of domination, of possessions, manipulation, of exploitation; we do not "care" for it, we do not respect it, we do not consider it as a free gift that we must care for.

We are losing the attitude of wonder, contemplation, listening to creation; thus we are no longer able to read what Benedict XVI calls "the rhythm of the love story of God and man." Why does this happen? Why do we think and live in a horizontal manner, we have moved away from God, we no longer read His signs.

But to "cultivate and care" encompasses not only the relationship between us and the environment, between man and creation, it also regards human relationships. The Popes have spoken of human ecology, closely linked to environmental ecology. We are living in a time of crisis: we see this in the environment, but above all we see this in mankind.

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The human person is in danger: this is certain, the human person is in danger today, here is the urgency of human ecology! And it is a serious danger because the cause of the problem is not superficial but profound: it is not just a matter of economics, but of ethics and anthropology. The Church has stressed this several times, and many say, yes, that's right, it's true ... but the system continues as before, because it is dominated by the dynamics of an economy and finance that lack ethics.

Man is not in charge today; money is in charge, money rules. God our Father did not give the task of caring for the earth to money, but to us, to men and women: we have this task! Instead, men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: it is the "culture of waste." If you break a computer it is a tragedy, but poverty, the needs, the dramas of so many people end up becoming the norm.

If on a winter's night, here nearby in Via Ottaviano, for example, a person dies, that is not news. If in so many parts of the world there are children who have nothing to eat, that's not news, it seems normal. It cannot be this way! Yet these things become the norm: that some homeless people die of cold on the streets is not news. In contrast, a ten point drop on the stock markets of some cities is a tragedy. A person dying is not news, but if the stock markets drop ten points, it is a tragedy! Thus people are disposed of, as if they were trash.

This "culture of waste" tends to become the common mentality that infects everyone. Human life, the person is no longer perceived as a primary value to be respected and protected, especially if poor or disabled, if not yet useful - such as the unborn child - or no longer needed - such as the elderly.

This culture of waste has made us insensitive even to the waste and disposal of food, which is even more despicable when all over the world, unfortunately, many individuals and families are suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Once, our grandparents were very careful not to throw away any leftover food.

Consumerism has led us to become used to an excess and daily waste of food, to which, at times, we are no longer able to give a just value, which goes well beyond mere economic parameters. We should all remember, however, that the food we throw away is as if stolen from the table of the poor, the hungry!

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I encourage everyone to reflect on the problem of thrown away and wasted food to identify ways and means that, by seriously addressing this issue, are a vehicle of solidarity and sharing with the needy.

A few days ago, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, we read the story of the miracle of the loaves: Jesus feeds the crowd with five loaves and two fishes. And the conclusion of the piece is important: " They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets" (Lk 9:17).

Jesus asks his disciples not to throw anything away: no waste! There is this fact of twelve baskets: Why twelve? What does this mean? Twelve is the number of the tribes of Israel, which symbolically represent all people. And this tells us that when food is shared in a fair way, with solidarity, when no one is deprived, every community can meet the needs of the poorest. Human ecology and environmental ecology walk together.

So I would like us all to make a serious commitment to respect and protect creation, to be attentive to every person, to counter the culture of waste and disposable, to promote a culture of solidarity and of encounter.".

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In his message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace in 2014, entitled Fraternity as the Foundation and Pathway to Peace, Francis offered these further insightful words which indicate where his thought on this vital topic is gravitating. It points to what we can expect in the upcoming letter:

"Fraternity helps to preserve and cultivate nature. The human family has received from the Creator a common gift: nature. The Christian view of creation includes a positive judgment about the legitimacy of interventions on nature if these are meant to be beneficial and are performed responsibly, that is to say, by acknowledging the "grammar" inscribed in nature and by wisely using resources for the benefit of all, with respect for the beauty, finality and usefulness of every living being and its place in the ecosystem".

I encourage my readers to the fear being promoted by some concerning the upcoming papal encyclical on the obligation to stewardship of the environment. This Pope named Francis is not unlike the one to whom he offered a tribute by choosing his name when he assumed the chair of Peter, that little poor man of Assisi named Francis.

Can you imagine how a modern press would have responded to his love for the created order?

Pray for Pope Francis. Trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Read the letter on the stewardship on the environment carefully when it is issued, with an open heart. Then, get on with living your vocation faithfully and passionately in a world desperately in need of the Gospel. Jesus Christ is Lord!
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Deacon Keith A. Fournier is Founder and Chairman of Common Good Foundation and Common Good Alliance. A married Roman Catholic Deacon of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, he and his wife Laurine have five grown children and seven grandchildren. He is a human rights lawyer and public policy advocate who served as the first and founding Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice in the nineteen nineties and has long been active at the intersection of faith and culture. He serves as Special Counsel to Liberty Counsel. He is a senior contributing writer to The Stream.

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