IN DEPTH: Is Less Really More? Reflections on Scarcity in Laudato Si

By Published on July 18, 2015

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/4034/is_less_really_more_reflections_on_scarcity_in_laudato_si.aspx

During his recent three-nation trip to Paraguay, Bolivia and Ecuador, Pope Francis spoke at Quito’s Catholic University, urging students and professors to champion responsible care for the environment: “It is no longer a mere recommendation, but rather a requirement because of the harm we have inflicted on [the Earth] by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed it,” he said.

In the wake of the recent release of the environmental encyclical Laudato Si’ and in the South American context of some of the most beautiful and rich ecology in the world, the pope has amplified his invocation to all men and women of good will to become wise stewards of God’s creation.

In his encyclical, Francis offers a moral theological guide for this purpose. He does this for good reason, not least of which because the environment often concerns genuinely difficult and complex decisions about interdependent ecosystems, externalities and unintended consequences of economic and political decisions, as well as weighty scientific paradigms.

Such complexity becomes more acute when combined with the contradictions and ambitions associated with particular political agendas. Such is the case with Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, who as president of an OPEC country has been heavily criticized for drilling in the Amazon, despite lifting 1.8 million Ecuadorians out of poverty, while his country laments the receding of its Andean glaciers and depletion of other sources of fresh water. According to the Associated Press, Bolivia’s Christ- on-a-hammer-and-sickle-crucifix-bearing president Evo Morales “has been hailed as an environmental hero by many for demanding rich nations do more to halt global warming, but…assailed by conservationists at home who say he puts oil and gas extraction ahead of clean water and forests.

Read the article “IN DEPTH: Is Less Really More? Reflections on Scarcity in Laudato Si on catholicworldreport.com.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Like the article? Share it with your friends! And use our social media pages to join or start the conversation! Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, MeWe and Gab.

Inspiration
The Scarcity Mindset
Robert Morris
More from The Stream
Connect with Us