NYTimes | On the first Sunday after Pope Francis issued a landmark document on the environment, Roman Catholics attending Mass in Kenya, France, Mexico, Peru and the United States said they were thankful that he was using his pulpit to address climate change, pollution and global inequality.
But
few priests or bishops — other than in parts of Latin America — used
their own pulpits on Sunday to pass on the pope’s message, according to
parish visits, interviews with Catholic leaders and reports from
Catholics after Mass. Despite the urgent call to action
in Francis’ document and the international attention it received, it
will take some time to know whether Catholic clergy are familiar or
comfortable enough with its themes to preach them to the faithful.
It traditionally takes months for papal teaching documents, known as
encyclicals, to be read, understood and disseminated. And this one, “Laudato Si’,” or “Praise Be to You: On Care for Our Common Home,”
is long, nearly 200 pages, and intricately weaves spiritual and moral
teachings with economic, scientific and political analysis. It includes a
forceful denunciation of a global economic system that the pope says
plunders the resources of the poor for the benefit of the rich, leaving
the poor to disproportionately suffer the consequences, including the
effects of climate change.
“There has not been that much awareness among parish priests of climate
change,” said the Rev. Aris Sison, a spokesman for the Diocese of Cubao
in Manila, the Philippines
capital. “The Holy Father has now made a clear connection between the
environment and morality. He has given us a whole new way of thinking
about the environment.”
