Pope Francis 10 years on

An editorial in the National Catholic Reporter comments that looking back from 2023, it is hard even to conjure up the shape of the church at the eve of that conclave in 2013 that elected Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as “Pope Francis”.

Ten Years Ago

It was a church of secret investigations of theologians. Of unjustified crackdowns on the work of U.S. women religious. Of the atrophy of the vision of the Second Vatican Council, and the comeback of the pre-conciliar Latin Mass. Of bishop after bishop being found to have covered up sexual abuse or misconduct, and being allowed to stay in office.  

It was a church before the call to create a "culture of encounter." Before the vision of a community that is "bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets." Before the declaration of "no concession" to those who would walk back Vatican II reforms. Before prioritizing the "ecological commitments which stem from our convictions." Before mandatory reporting of suspicion of abuse or cover-up, worldwide. (Editorial: Over 10 Years, Pope Francis Has Opened the Church Reform Door. Time to Step Through., 2023)

And Today

After ten years, it is important to reflect on the changes and our response.

References

Editorial: Over 10 years, Pope Francis has opened the church reform door. Time to step through. (2023, March 13). National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved March 13, 2023, from https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/editorial/editorial-over-10-years-pope-francis-has-opened-church-reform-door-time-step 

Catholic Social Teaching and Climate

The Steering Committee and the International Support Team, behind the campaign for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty comments that just like fifty years ago, when the world used international treaties to defuse the threats posed by nuclear weapons, today, the world needs a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to phase out fossil fuels, support dependent economies, workers and communities to diversify away from fossil fuels, ensure 100% access to renewable energy globally and promote a just transition that leaves no-one behind.

Protecting the Environment

On 21 July 2022, a Senior Vatican Cardinal called for an international treaty that tackles the climate crisis at its source: fossil fuels. The call builds on the Vatican’s calls for fossil fuel divestment and new policies for investments in “a more just and sustainable world”.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said: “Regarding COP27, Pope Francis again joins scientists in holding to the Paris Agreement’s temperature increase goal of 1.5°C. The planet already is 1.2°C hotter, yet new fossil fuel projects every day accelerate our race towards the precipice. Enough is enough. All new exploration and production of coal, oil, and gas must immediately end, and existing production of fossil fuels must be urgently phased out. This must be a just transition for impacted workers into environmentally sound alternatives. The proposed Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty holds great promise to complement and enhance the Paris Agreement.” (The Vatican Calls for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to Protect People and Planet, 2022)

Tony Annett tweets concerning Pope Francis' moral priorities that includes protecting the environment.

Pope Francis is clear on his moral priorities: protecting the environment, welcoming migrants and refugees, abolishing the death penalty, opposing nationalism, seeking justice for the poor. Yet many on the US Catholic right oppose all these things. This is a problem.

— Tony Annett (@tonyannett) December 24, 2022

Thomas Reese, a Senior Analyst at Religion News Service, writes that Advent should be a time of hope. As a social scientist, he has little hope. As a Christian, he must have hope. This Advent he will be praying for the conversion of hearts to an environmental mindset. He will pray that those being born in the coming year will experience the coming of Christ and not the environmental catastrophe that scientists are predicting.

“Climate change will not wait for us,” said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state. “Our world is now far too interdependent and cannot permit itself to be structured into unsustainable isolated blocks of countries. This is a time for international and intergenerational solidarity. We need to be responsible, courageous and forward-looking not just for ourselves, but for our children.”

“Our political will,” said the Vatican’s top official, “should be guided by the awareness that either we win together or we lose together.”

Pope Francis was outspoken about environmental issues in his encyclical “Laudato Si.” He was not the first pope to have these concerns. Pope Benedict XVI was referred to as the “green pope” after he had solar panels installed on the roof of the papal audience hall. Both liberal and conservative Catholics should unite in following these popes’ directions in responding to climate change.(Reese, 2022).

The global momentum around the proposed Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty means that three pillars of the policy proposal are now supported by 101 Nobel laureates, 3,000 academics, a growing interfaith group of religious leaders, 320 parliamentarians, thousands of youth activists, more than 1,500 civil society organizations and over 60 cities including London, Paris, Amsterdam, Sydney, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Toronto and Geneva. Let’s join Pope Francis in the assertion that “enough is enough” and respond to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor presented in the Laudato Si encyclical. 

References

Reese, T. (2022, November 28). In Advent, we hope and wait. Climate change doesn't lend itself to either. Religion News Service. Retrieved December 29, 2022, from https://religionnews.com/2022/11/28/advent-and-global-warming/ 

The Vatican calls for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to protect people and planet. (2022, July 21). The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Retrieved July 22, 2022, from https://fossilfueltreaty.org/vatican 

War Like Struggle for Peace and Health

A review of encyclical and letters from the Vatican in the past decades to determine the position of the Church on war may show an approach that is in transition to abolition of war.

Navy in Harbour

David Carroll Cochran writes that  that Catholicism’s call to abolish war, like its call to abolish the death penalty, is far from foolish.

Those who study trends in warfare find that greater economic development, more participation in international trade, and deeper involvement in regional intergovernmental bodies all significantly reduce a country’s risk of war. So too does democracy, the rule of law, and effective governance. The research also shows that there is much that the international community can do to promote these economic and political trends in countries most at risk of war. The use of mediation and peace agreements to resolve disputes between and within countries has been increasingly effective. Meanwhile, international peacekeeping missions and peace-and-reconciliation initiatives have significantly reduced the risk of conflict breaking out again in places where it has recently ended. Those who study armed conflict have also shown the effectiveness of diplomacy and sanctions in influencing state behavior without resort to war. Finally, studies show that in the past century nonviolent civil resistance has been twice as effective as armed struggle against both domestic dictators and foreign oppressors—and this effectiveness gap has grown even greater in the past few decades. The church’s ideas about peacemaking turn out to be pretty realistic after all.1

 

Some critics dismiss the church’s peacemaking commitments as more unrealistic sentimentality. George Weigel, for example, has described faith in greater international governance and multilateral cooperation as “inexplicably stupid” and lamented that this “fantasy” continues to appear in papal encyclicals. It is remarkable how much social-scientific research on armed conflict supports the effectiveness of the very tools Catholic teaching emphasizes.

1	alleviate poverty, inequality, protect human rights, promote democracy and the rule of law
2	conflicts resolved through nonviolent negotiation and mediation
3	robust international peacekeeping commitments
4	rely on diplomacy, sanctions, and incentives to uphold international norms
5	methods of nonviolent direct action as effective alternatives to armed struggle
Ref	(2016, January 4). A World Without War | Commonweal Magazine. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/world-without-war

 

Douglas P. Fry, Chair of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and  Geneviève Souillac, Associate Professor in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, report that peaceful societies are not utopian fantasy. They exist. They comment that skeptics might respond that there is no need to eliminate war from the planet. But such thinking is flawed in many respects.

“Peace systems” are clusters of neighboring societies that do not make war with each other and sometimes not at all. That means some peace systems are completely non-warring, whereas others only engage in acts of war outside the boundaries of the system. A systematic study of peace systems may hold valuable lessons about how to promote transborder cooperation desperately needed to meet the threats of climate change, pandemics, ecological collapse, and ticking nuclear catastrophe.2

 

Overblown military expenditures not only fail to deliver true security but also divert funding from sustainable development, education, healthcare, and other human necessities. Wars destroy the lives of combatants and civilians alike. The very presence of nuclear arsenals imperils the entire species, if not all forms of life on Earth. Wars distract attention, divert resources, and impede the concerted action required to successfully address plummeting biodiversity, soiling of the seas, displacement of peoples, ethnocide of indigenous peoples, pandemics, cataclysmic wildfires, and global warming itself. Waging of wars and oversized militarism hinder concerted “all hands on deck” responses to existential threats.

 

Charlie Smith, editor of the Georgia Straight Vancouver writes that author Seth Klein wants us all to wage A Good War to prevent a climate catastrophe.

The war effort made great use of posters, public radio, and the National Film Board to generate public support. Klein discovered in his research that the King government modified its message over time to woo more Canadians to fight fascism. Initially, government officials relied on traditional propaganda, with messages like ”Go get Hitler!” “Then they realized in ’41 that they actually had to shift gears,” Klein says. “If they were going to get the enlistment numbers that they needed, they had to engage people in a conversation about what kind of society they were going to come back to.” That led to economist Leonard Marsh’s 1943 Report on Social Security for Canada, which called for social insurance and public-welfare supports. It formed a blueprint for the creation of a welfare state after the war. Klein points out that the first income transfers occurred during the Second World War. And Tommy Douglas was elected premier of Saskatchewan in 1944, putting that province on the road toward creating the country’s first public health-insurance program.3

 

Some of the actions of a government at war have been experienced during the Covid epidemic.

Shift to Emergency Mode

War time like government involvement is likely to be required to implement the policy required to reduce the tremendous impact that the climate crisis will have on the world.

 

References

 

1	(2016, January 4). A World Without War | Commonweal Magazine. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/world-without-war
2	(2021, March 22). Peaceful societies are not utopian fantasy. They exist.. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://thebulletin.org/2021/03/peaceful-societies-are-not-utopian-fantasy-they-exist/
3	(2020, September 9). Vancouver author Seth Klein wants us all to wage A Good War to .... Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.straight.com/living/vancouver-author-seth-klein-wants-us-all-to-wage-a-good-war-to-prevent-a-climate-catastrophe