• Complain

Pope Francis - Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home

Here you can read online Pope Francis - Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 2015, publisher: Ignatius Press, genre: Religion. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

Pope Francis Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home
  • Book:
    Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home
  • Author:
  • Publisher:
    Ignatius Press
  • Genre:
  • Year:
    2015
  • Rating:
    4 / 5
  • Favourites:
    Add to favourites
  • Your mark:
    • 80
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

The earth is the common home of humanity. It is a gift from God. Yet mans abuse of freedom threatens that home. In his encyclicalPraise Be to You (Laudato Si), Pope Francis challenges all people to praise God for his glorious creation and to work to safeguard her. The encyclical letter takes its name from St. Francis of Assisis Canticle of the Creatures, which depicts creation as a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. This sister, Pope Francis declares, now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. He calls for an integral ecology based on what Pope St John Paul called an ecological conversiona moral transformation linking the proper response to God for the gift of his creation to concern for justice, especially for the poor. He challenges people to understand ecology in terms of the right ordering of the fundamental relationships of the human person: with God, oneself, other people, and the rest of creation. Francis examines such ecological concerns as pollution, waste, and what he calls the throwaway culture. Climate, he insists, is a common good to be protected. He explores the proper use of natural resources and notions such as sustainability from a Judeo-Christian perspective. The loss of biodiversity due to human activities, decline in the quality of life for many people, global inequality of resources, as well as concerns over consumerism and excessive individualism also threaten the good order of creation, writes Pope Francis. While valuing technology and invnovation, he rejects efforts to repudiate the natural order, including the moral law inscribed in human nature or to rely simply on science to solve ecological problems. Moral and spiritual resources are crucial, including openness to Gods purpose for the world. Expounding the biblical tradition regarding creation and redemption in Christ, Francis stresses mans subordination to Gods plan and the universal communion of all creation. Dominion, he maintains, means responsible stewardship rather than exploitation. He rejects treating creation as if it were divine and insists on the primacy of the human person in creation. He also explores the roots of the ecological crisis in mans abuse of technology, his self-centeredness, and the rise of practical relativism. Without rejecting political changes, he implores people to change their hearts and their ways of life. Popes Benedict XVI, St John Paul II, and Blessed Paul VI addressed key themes regarding stewardship of Gods creation and justice in the world. But Pope Francis is the first to devote an entire encyclical to the subject.

Pope Francis: author's other books


Who wrote Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

PRAISE BE TO YOU

Laudato Si

ENCYCLICAL LETTER

PRAISE BE TO YOU

Laudato Si

On Care for Our Common Home

OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
FRANCIS
TO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS
MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS THE LAY FAITHFUL

LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA
IGNATIUS PRESS SAN FRANCISCO

Front cover art: Papal Coat of Arms of Pope Francis
AgnusImages.com

Back cover photograph of Pope Francis
Stefano Spaziani

Jacket design by Roxanne Mei Lum / John Herreid

Published in 2015 by Ignatius Press, San Francisco
Copyright 2015 Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-1-62164-081-3 (HB)
ISBN 978-1-68149-667-2 (E)
Library of Congress Control Number 2015944415
Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

Nothing in this world is indifferent to us [3-6]

United by the same concern [7-9] Saint Francis of Assisi [10-12]

My appeal [13-16]

CHAPTER ONE
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR
COMMON HOME [17-61]

CHAPTER TWO
THE GOSPEL OF CREATION [62-100]

CHAPTER THREE
THE HUMAN ROOTS OF THE
ECOLOGICAL CRISIS [101-136]

CHAPTER FOUR
INTEGRAL ECOLOGY [137-162]

CHAPTER FIVE
LINES OF APPROACH AND
ACTION [163-201]

CHAPTER SIX
ECOLOGICAL EDUCATION
AND SPIRITUALITY [202-246]

2. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she groans in travail ( Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air, and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.

Nothing in this world is indifferent to us

3. More than fifty years ago, with the world teetering on the brink of nuclear crisis, Pope Saint John XXIII wrote an Encyclical which not only rejected war but offered a proposal for peace. He addressed his message Pacem in Terris to the entire Catholic world and indeed to all men and women of good will. Now, faced as we are with global environmental deterioration, I wish to address every person living on this planet. In my Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium , I wrote to all the members of the Church with the aim of encouraging ongoing missionary renewal. In this Encyclical, I would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home.

4. In 1971, eight years after Pacem in Terris , Blessed Pope Paul VI referred to the ecological concern as a tragic consequence of unchecked human activity: Due to an ill-considered exploitation of nature, humanity runs the risk of destroying it and becoming in turn a victim of this degradation.

5. Saint John Paul II became increasingly concerned about this issue. In his first Encyclical he warned that human beings frequently seem to see no other meaning in their natural environment than what serves for immediate use and consumption.

6. My predecessor Benedict XVI likewise proposed eliminating the structural causes of the dysfunctions of the world economy and correcting models of growth which have proved incapable of ensuring respect for the environment.

United by the same concern

7. These statements of the Popes echo the reflections of numerous scientists, philosophers, theologians and civic groups, all of which have enriched the Churchs thinking on these questions. Outside the Catholic Church, other Churches and Christian communitiesand other religions as wellhave expressed deep concern and offered valuable reflections on issues which all of us find disturbing. To give just one striking example, I would mention the statements made by the beloved Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with whom we share the hope of full ecclesial communion.

8. Patriarch Bartholomew has spoken in particular of the need for each of us to repent of the ways we have harmed the planet, for inasmuch as we all generate small ecological damage, we are called to acknowledge our contribution, smaller or greater, to the disfigurement and destruction of creation.

9. At the same time, Bartholomew has drawn attention to the ethical and spiritual roots of environmental problems, which require that we look for solutions not only in technology but in a change of humanity; otherwise we would be dealing merely with symptoms. He asks us to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism which entails learning to give, and not simply to give up. It is a way of loving, of moving gradually away from what I want to what Gods world needs. It is liberation from fear, greed and compulsion.

Saint Francis of Assisi

10. I do not want to write this Encyclical without turning to that attractive and compelling figure whose name I took as my guide and inspiration when I was elected Bishop of Rome. I believe that Saint Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically. He is the patron saint of all who study and work in the area of ecology, and he is also much loved by non-Christians. He was particularly concerned for Gods creation and for the poor and outcast. He loved, and he was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self-giving, his openheartedness. He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.

11. Francis helps us to see that an integral ecology calls for openness to categories which transcend the language of mathematics and biology and take us to the heart of what it is to be human. Just as happens when we fall in love with someone, whenever he would gaze at the sun, the moon or the smallest of animals, he burst into song, drawing all other creatures into his praise. He communed with all creation, even preaching to the flowers, inviting them to praise the Lord, just as if they were endowed with reason. Such a conviction cannot be written off as naive romanticism, for it affects the choices which determine our behavior. If we approach nature and the environment without this openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously. The poverty and austerity of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but something much more radical: a refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be used and controlled.

12. What is more, Saint Francis, faithful to Scripture, invites us to see nature as a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness. Through the greatness and the beauty of creatures one comes to know by analogy their maker ( Wis 13:5); indeed, his eternal power and divinity have been made known through his works since the creation of the world ( Rom 1:20). For this reason, Francis asked that part of the friary garden always be left untouched so that wild flowers and herbs could grow there and those who saw them could raise their minds to God, the Creator of such beauty. Rather than a problem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and praise.

Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home»

Look at similar books to Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


Reviews about «Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home»

Discussion, reviews of the book Praise be to You - Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.