Planet Earth is, as the sub-title of the Pope’s new encyclical calls it, the “common home” for humanity. And it’s a home that is increasingly falling into disrepair, due to lack of care by the tenants to whom it has been entrusted.
The encyclical is a clear call to action – to everyone, everywhere – and chimes well with the understanding that human development is intrinsically linked to nature. This is at the heart of WWF (the World Wide Fund for Nature)’s mission, and we are hugely encouraged by what the Pope has to say. The encyclical speaks to all people of goodwill, including those in governments and in businesses. Above all, it speaks to each of us as individuals, who depend upon the extraordinary environment our planet provides.
I am not surprised that Pope Francis engages with economics as well as theology. Justice is a strong theme in the teaching of Jesus, as well as in most world religions. The demands of justice require that we collaborate to protect those things which underpin the common good, and especially for those living in poverty – including a stable climate. And let’s remember that Jorge Mario Bergoglio chose Francis as his papal name - after the Saint Francis who celebrated nature in his teaching and his songs.
Echoing the “common home” in its title, the “common good” is a persistent theme through the encyclical. The common good builds on an extensive library of Catholic social teaching, going back through Aquinas and Augustine (whom I studied for my Masters degree in theology at Edinburgh) to the early days of the Christian church. The encyclical applies this to the challenge of climate change and biodiversity loss – and points to science telling us that these are mostly caused by humans.
I’d take “make yourselves at home” as a paraphrase of what God says to Adam and Eve back in the Book of Genesis. But what sort of home are we making these days for ourselves, for generations to come, and for other species? After all, the story of Noah indicates that the richness and diversity of life in all its forms matters to God.
We have a duty of care towards all inhabitants of our common home and climate change puts them greatly at risk. Rising sea levels could cause the mangrove swamps that shelter many of the 3,200 remaining wild tigers to vanish altogether. Sea turtles lay their eggs on Brazilian beaches that could be swamped by rising sea levels. Melting Artic sea ice means that polar bears could soon disappear from the wild. As seas around the world get warmer and more acidic, there is insufficient plankton to sustain whales – and hundreds of other marine species. Less rainfall could mean the demise of the bamboo forests that giant pandas depend on. Here in the UK, the cool and clear waters of our unique chalk streams, home to water voles, otters and a beautiful array of plant and animal species, could run dry if the climate changes too fast. Each of the habitats also play a vital role in providing food, shelter and a source of wonder and meaning for millions of people. The Pope’s message is clear – people and nature are linked. WWF is proud to be working with people around the world to make that vision a reality.
Pope Francis also says we need more sustainable consumption and production patterns, and to look at different ways to run our economies. What does this mean in practice? For a start, the world can unite around the universal Sustainable Development Goals currently being negotiated in the United Nations. These present opportunities for all countries to put care for our common home at the heart of development. The UN Climate Summit at the end of this year is a further opportunity for the international community to prove that they care about people and planet. WWF is working to help people - from the Amazon basin to the Himalayas - achieve this, and the Pope’s call to action will help us move forward in solidarity.
Thanks to the encyclical, we can now all sing from the same hymn sheet that the loss of biodiversity, resource scarcity and the changing climate need to be addressed by all of us. And we can choose to join the choir and lead new approaches to economics and lifestyles that will lead us to a world in which people and nature thrive. Laudato si'!
David Nussbaum, pictured top, is the Chief Executive of World Wildlife Fund in the UK
Above: Polar Bear, Coral bleaching (Philippines). Photos: WWF
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Pope Francis tells us in vivid language that humanity is turning Planet Earth into a pile of filth. Scripture tells (psalm 113) that God raises man up from the dung hill. There is inter-connectedness between our human bodies and all matter in the universe. Surely God’s plan is not only to redeem the exiled children of Adam, but also to make all matter holy as well?
Thus the event of Cross-Resurrection-Pentecost was not merely a matter of personal salvation of souls, but the beginning of a new creation, or re-creation of the entire cosmos. St Paul asserts that God’s plan for the fullness of time is ‘to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth’
Modern science makes us aware of the unity and inter-relatedness of all matter. We are made stardust. The stuff of the world, including our bodies, was once the dust and debris of exploding stars – as is the Bread of the Eucharist – ‘fruit of the earth and work of human hands’.
In transforming bread into His own Body, Jesus begins the process of remaking all matter holy. Is the daily continuation of this priestly act, and our reception of the Eucharist, not also and incrementally, bringing us and the whole cosmos to the common destiny of the material world and all mankind?
Relating to the end of the world The Catholic Catechism (1047) teaches: ‘ The visible universe is destined to be transformed, and the world itself, restored to its original state'. So human bodies and as all matter deserve equal respect?