Pope’s Intentions for October: Prayer Intention for evangelization: The Laity’s Mission in the Church. “We pray that by the virtue of Baptism, the Laity, especially women, may participate more in areas of responsibility in the Church.”
Today we look at paragraph 5 of the Pope’s Encyclical, “Laudato Si”, ‘On Care for our Common Home’
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 “. [4] Subsequently, he would call for a global ecological conversion. [5] At the same time, he noted that little effort had been made to “safeguard the moral conditions for an authentic human ecology” .[6] The destruction of the human environment is extremely serious, not only because God has entrusted the world to us men and women, but because human life is itself a gift which must be defended from various forms of debasement. Every effort to protect and improve our world entails profound changes in “lifestyles, models of production and — consumption, and the established structures of power which today govern societies”. [7] Authentic human development has a moral character. It presumes full respect for the human person, but it must also be concerned for the world around us and take into account the nature of each being and of its mutual connection in an ordered system -[8] Accordingly, our human ability to transform reality must proceed in line with God’s original gift of all that is. [9]
A noteworthy term in this passage looking at Pope Saint John Paul II’s insights into the importance of looking after the environment is “human ecology’. Pope Francis’ reaction to that term is an important one for the times we live in — “The destruction of the human environment is extremely serious, not only because God has entrusted the world to us men and women, but because human life is itself a gift which must be defended from various forms of debasement.” So many people around the world are manipulated, abused and treated poorly so that others can make massive profits. Some are treated as commodities themselves, bought and sold for various reasons and purposes, all of which are terrible.