President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Denis Hart, has welcomed the Holy Father’s encyclical, Laudato Si’.
In a media statement issued last week, Archbishop Hart said he was pleased to see that the letter critiques our weak response to ecological and social issues.
“Pope Francis calls on people to seek new ways to understand the economy, condemns our throwaway culture and dependence on technology, and is calling on people to reassess the dignity of humanity and the integrity of creation in finding solutions to the ecological crisis,” Archbishop Hart said.
The ACBC said it strongly supports the encyclical, stating that his Holiness Pope Francis has challenged ‘every person living on this planet’ to enter into a new dialogue toward building a better future in his encyclical letter Laudato Si’ – ‘Praise be to you’.
The statement issued by the ACBC went on to say that, in dialogue with all people about our common home, the encyclical challenges Catholics to ask ‘how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded’ (13).
Director of Catholic Earthcare Australia, Jacqui Remond, said Laudato Si’ is a game-changer for the Catholic community and it offers us in Australia a powerful moral and spiritual imperative for environmental and social action.
The encyclical draws attention to pressing environmental concerns such as pollution and climate change, and the use of fossil fuels, while also looking at how climate change is a global problem with serious environmental, social, economic and political implications.
The Pope also refers to a broad range of topics, including pollution and its effect on the poor, urban chaos, drug trafficking, refugees and human trafficking, pointing to the ‘intimate relationship between the poor and the fragility of the planet, and the conviction that everything in the world is connected’.
At this crucial time, the Australian Bishops and Catholic Earthcare Australia are inviting the Catholic community and the wider Australian community to address the challenges and opportunities in Laudato Si’.
Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB issued a statement about the encyclical last week, saying that those who live in Western Australia are privileged to live in one of the most unspoilt and least polluted areas of the developed world.
The Archbishop went on to say that, at the same time, we are not immune from the dangers which come from a disregard for the care and nurturing of our natural environment.
“As we are coming to recognise ever more clearly, a balanced and healthy environment is essential to our basic well-being and existence as human beings,” the Archbishop said.
“With this in mind, I welcome Pope Francis’ encyclical. Perhaps for the first time, we have a carefully reasoned and passionately argued exposition of our duty and our need to care for our earthly home.
“It is an exposition which the Pope offers as the Church’s contribution to ‘a dialogue with all people about our common home’ (par 3). It weaves together philosophical, theological and scientific reflection, as well as some simple common sense.
“It is a challenging but richly rewarding document to read.”