Categoria: Religião

“El papa Francisco insta a una rebelión contra el capitalismo”

Leonardo Boff5 Comentários

La Iglesia tiene fundamentalmente una misión religiosa, la de anunciar el mensaje liberador de Jesús y de mantener  la llama sagrada que vige dentro de cada persona que es su dimensión espiritual: la presencia secreta de Dios en cada una de suas creaturas, especialmente, en las humanas. El día en que esta dimensón es olvidada o destruida perdimos lo más sagrado que tenemos y vamos al encuentro de un abismo. Pero más allá de esta dimensión religiosa esencial, la Iglesia (y las religiones en general) posee una misión social: enfatizar la verdad, hacer valer el derecho, defender los derechos sagrados de cada persona, ponerse al lado de los más débiles contra la opresión de los poderosos. Estos son valores que favorecen una sociedad más humana, justa y fraterna. Es en nombre de esta misión que el Papa Francisco en sus pronunciamientos hace duras criticas al sitema idolátrico del dinero, la voracidad de acumulación que implica devastación de la naturaleza y una injusticia social. El habla si de política. Pero no habla de política desde la política, sino desde el evangelio que denuncia errores y propone ideales. Es en este sentido que debemos entender las críticas que el Papa Francisco hace al sistema financiero especulativo y al tipo de producción y consumo vigentes en nuestra sociedad mundial. Como viene de la periferia del mundo, ve y siente mejor de quien vive en el centro las iniquidades ecológicas y sociales que este sistema produce. Hace sentido que insta una rebelión contra tal estilo de vida. Está cumpliendo sensillamente su misión evangélica: Lboff

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“El papa Francisco insta a una rebelión contra el capitalismo”

Publicado: 23 jul 2015 07:51 GM

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REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

El papa Francisco está fomentando la desobediencia social, llevando a una rebelión de las masas contra los superricos capitalistas, asegura el periodista Paul Farrel.

En su artículo para MarketWatch el columnista analiza el discurso del Sumo Pontífice en Bolivia del pasado 9 de julio.

“El reciente viaje de Francisco a América del Sur reveló un obvio mensaje socialista y anticapitalista  que insta a un cambio estructural de la economía global que atenta contra el proyecto de Jesús”, escribe Farrel.

Dicha conclusión del periodista se basa en los argumentos del papa presentados a continuación.

Tierra, techo y trabajo son “derechos sagrados”

Todas las personas tienen el derecho otorgado por Dios a un trabajo, a la posesión de tierra y a una vivienda, según la probablemente más audaz declaración del papa Francisco.

Por supuesto, no son promesas ni objetivos de los sistemas económicos actuales de EE.UU. y otras partes del mundo.

Tampoco están dentro de la enseñanza tradicional de la Iglesia católica, que aunque aboga por un trabajo digno, no lo declara un derecho otorgado por Dios, señala el periodista.

La gente, y no el beneficio, debe ser el foco de la economía global

Tildando el capitalismo no controlado como “dictadura sutil” y “estiércol del diablo”, Francisco sostiene que cuando gobierna “la ambición desenfrenada de dinero”, el “servicio para el bien común queda relegado”.

“Digamos ‘¡No!’ a una economía de exclusión e inequidad donde el dinero reina en lugar de servir. Esa economía mata. Esa economía excluye. Esa economía destruye a la Madre Tierra”, insta el papa Francisco.

Miles de millones ya no pueden esperar más los cambios

Refiriéndose a las injusticias económicas el papa dijo que “el tiempo parece que se estuviera agotando; no alcanzó el pelearnos entre nosotros, sino que hasta nos ensañamos con nuestra casa”.

El papa moviliza a la gente: “digámoslo sin miedo: queremos un cambio, un cambio real, un cambio de estructuras”.

El cambio empieza desde abajo

El papa subraya que los cambios estructurales no llegan “porque se impuso tal o cual opción política”.

Los cambios desde abajo funcionan, dijo, porque vivir “cada día, empapados, en el nudo de la tormenta humana” conmueve y mueve.

Obligación moral, un mandamiento

“La distribución justa de los frutos de la tierra y el trabajo humano no es mera filantropía. Es un deber moral. Para los cristianos, la carga es aún más fuerte: es un mandamiento. Se trata de devolverles a los pobres y a los pueblos lo que les pertenece”, recuerda Francisco.

Pope Francis: a Church emerging: from what to what?

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

Still celebrating the extraordinary encyclical on “caring for the Common Home”, we reflect again on an important perspective of Pope Francis, a true expression of his understanding of the Church as “a Church emerging.” This phrase carries a veiled criticism of the previous model of the Church. It was a “jailed” Church, given the various moral and financial scandals that forced Pope Benedict XVI to resign, a Church that had lost her most important asset: morality and credibility among Christians and the secular world.

But the concept of a “jailed Church” has a deeper meaning, made possible because it comes from a Pope outside the institutional sectors of the old and tired European Christianity. This had encased the Church in an understanding that had rendered it unacceptable to the moderns, a hostage to fossilized traditions and with a message that did not address the problems of Christians and the world today. The “Church emerging” marks a break with that state of affairs. The word “break” annoys the representatives of the ecclesiastic establishment, but that does not make it less true. Then the question comes: “emerging” from what and to what?

Let’s examine some steps:

-Emerging from a Fortress-Church that shielded the faithful from modern liberties to a Field-Hospital-Church that cares for all those who come to her, without regard to moral or ideological matters.

-Emerging from a self-centered Absolutist Institution-Church, towards a Movement-Church, open to universal dialogue with other Churches, religions and ideologies.

-Emerging from a Hierarchy-Church, creator of inequalities, towards a People of God-Church that turns everyone into brothers or sisters: an immense fraternal community.

-Emerging from an Ecclesiastic Authority-Church, distanced from the faithful or even denying them, towards a Pastor-Church that walks among the people, merciful, and with the odor of sheep.

-Emerging from a Papal Church of all Christians and Bishops, that governs with rigorous canonical right, to become a Bishop of Rome-Church, who presides in charity and only from that charity does he become Pope of the universal Church.

-Emerging from a Teacher of Doctrines and Norms-Church, to a Church of surprising practices and affectionate encounters with people beyond their religious, moral or ideological affiliations. The existential peripheries gain centrality.

-Emerging from a Church of sacred power, pomp and circumstance, pontifical palaces and Renaissance nobility titles, towards a Church of and for the poor, divested of symbols of honor, a servant, and prophetic voice against the system of accumulation of wealth, the idol that causes suffering and misery, and kills people.

-Emerging from a Church that speaks of the poor, to a Church that goes to the poor, talks with the poor, embraces and defends the poor.

-Emerging from a Church-equally distant from the political and economic systems towards a Church that takes sides in favor of the victimized, and calls out by name those responsible for the injustices, and invites representatives of world social movements to Rome, to discuss with them how to find alternatives.

-Emerging from a Self-magnifying and uncritical-Church towards a Church that is truthful about herself and against those Cardinals, Bishops and theologians who are jealous of their status but with a “vinegar or Good Friday” face, “sad as if they were going to their own funeral”; to a Church that is at last comprised of human beings.

-Emerging from a Church of order and rigor towards a Church of the revolution of tenderness, mercy and caring.

-Emerging from a Church of the devout, as those who appear in television programs, with performing priest artists of the religious market, towards a Church committed to social justice and the liberation of the oppressed.

-Emerging from a Church-obedience and reverence towards a Church-joy from the Gospel and still with hope for this world.

-Emerging from a Church-without the world that allowed the appearance of a world without a Church, towards a Church-World, sensitive to the problems of ecology and the future of our Common Home, Mother Earth.

These and other examples show that the Church is not reduced to being just a religious mission, stuck in a small part of reality. The Church also possesses a socio-political mission in the best sense of the term, as a source of inspiration for the needed transformations that may lift humanity towards a civilization of love and compassion, one less individualistic, materialistic, cynical and lacking in solidarity.

This Church-on her way out has returned joy and hope to Christians and regained the sense of being a spiritual home. For her simplicity, divesting and welcoming with love and tenderness, she has gained the affection of many people of other confessions, of common citizens of the world and even of heads of State who admire the figure of Pope Francis and his surprising practices in favor of peace, dialogue among the peoples, of the renunciation of all violence and war.

More than doctrine and dogma, the Tradition of Jesus is comprised of unconditional love, mercy and compassion, that is actualized and reveals its inexhaustible humanizing energy through Him. Truly, among other things, this is the central message of Jesus, acceptable to all people from all corners of the world.
Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

El Papa Francisco: celoso cuidador de la Casa Común

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

Tiempo atrás escribimos que el Papa Francisco por causa del patrono que le inspiró el nombre – Francisco de Asís – tendría todo a su favor para ser el gran promotor de una propuesta ecológica mundial. Debía ser él, pues lamentablemente nos faltan líderes con autoridad y con palabras y gestos convincentes que despierten a la humanidad, especialmente a las élites dirigentes, ante las amenazas que afectan el destino común de la Tierra y de la Humanidad y a la responsabilidad colectiva y diferenciada de salvaguardarlo para todos.

Y este deseo se realizó plenamente con la publicación de la encíclica “Laudato si’: cuidar de la Casa Común”. Nos ofrece un texto de gran amplitud – la ecología integral – de rara belleza intelectual y espiritual, uniendo lo que era tan caro a san Francisco de Asís y también a Francisco de Roma: el comportamiento de cuidado con la hermana y madre Tierra y un amor preferencial a los condenados de la Tierra.

Esta conexión atraviesa todo el texto como un hilo conductor. No hay verdadera ecología, de ninguna expresión, sea ambiental, social, mental o integral, si no rescata a la humanidad humillada de los millones de empobrecidos de nuestra historia, aquellos en los cuales la Tierra como madre es más agredida y ofendida. El Papa Francisco aparece como celoso cuidador de la Casa Común. Se muestra extremadamente coherente con la marca registrada de la Iglesia de la liberación latinoamericana con su correspondiente teología que es la opción preferencial por los pobres, contra la pobreza y a favor de la justicia social y de su liberación. Lo opuesto a la pobreza no es la riqueza, es la injusticia de proporciones estructurales y mundiales. La forma más adecuada para enfrentar esta antirrealidad es la ecología integral que articula “tanto el grito de la Tierra como el grito del pobre” (n.49).

La ecología es más que un mero administrar los bienes y servicios escasos de la naturaleza. Representa un nuevo estilo de vivir, un arte nuevo de habitar diferentemente la Casa Común de tal forma que todos puedan caber en ella. No solamente los humanos, lo que configuraría el antropocentrismo duramente criticado por la encíclica (nn.115-121), sino todos los seres vivos e inertes, especialmente la gran comunidad de vida que sufre dura erosión de la biodiversidad por causa del predominio de la tecnocracia. Este es otro nombre para identificar al principal causante de la crisis ecológica globalizada: la furia productivista y consumista, digamos nosotros con una palabra que el Papa no usa, del capitalismo salvaje que busca acumular de forma ilimitada a costa de la devastación de la naturaleza, del empobrecimiento de las personas y del riesgo de una mega catástrofe ecológicosocial. Este sistema impone a todos un comportamiento, como enfatiza el Papa, que “parece “suicida” (n. 55).

Esta vinculación entre el Gran Pobre (la Tierra) y los pobres, como lo vieron muy pronto los teólogos de la liberación, se justifica porque vivimos tiempos de extrema urgencia: la huella ecológica de la Tierra ha sido ya sobrepasada en más del 30%. La Tierra necesita de un año y medio para reponer lo que nosotros con nuestro consumo le sustraemos durante un año.

Este dato nos plantea la cuestión de nuestra supervivencia colectiva. Tenemos que cambiar si queremos evitar el abismo. Por eso la pregunta central que la encíclica plantea es: ¿cómo debemos relacionarnos con la naturaleza y con la Madre Tierra? La respuesta es con el cuidado, la fraternidad universal, el respeto a cada ser pues posee valor intrínseco y con la aceptación de la interrelación de todos con todos.

En este particular, Francisco de Roma fue a buscar inspiración en un ejemplo vivo y no teórico, en Francisco de Asís. Explícitamente dice: ”creo que Francisco es el ejemplo por excelencia del cuidado por todo lo que es débil y de una ecología integral vivida con alegría y autenticidad” (n.10).

Todos los biógrafos de su tiempo (Celano, San Buenaventura, citados por la encíclica) dan testimonio de “el tiernísimo afecto que nutría hacia todas las criaturas”; “les daba el dulce nombre de hermanos y hermanas de quienes adivinaba los secretos, como quien goza ya de la libertad y de la gloria de los hijos de Dios”. Liberaba pajaritos de las jaulas, cuidaba de cada animalito herido y llegaba a pedir a los jardineros que dejasen un rinconcito libre sin cultivar para que allí pudiesen crecer las malas hierbas, pues todas “ellas también anuncian al hermosísimo Padre de todos los seres”.

El Papa advierte que esto no es “romanticismo irracional, porque tiene consecuencias en las opciones que determinan nuestro comportamiento” (n.11). Si no usamos el lenguaje del encantamiento, de la fraternidad y de la belleza en relación con el mundo, ”nuestras actitudes serán las del dominador, del consumidor o del mero explotador de recursos, incapaz de poner un límite a sus intereses inmediatos” (n. 11).

Aquí se transparenta otro modo-de-estar en el mundo, diferente del de la modernidad tecnocrática. En esta, el ser humano está sobre las cosas como quien las posee y domina. El modo-de-estar de Francisco es situarse junto con ellas para convivir como hermanos y hermanas en casa. Él intuyó místicamente lo que hoy sabemos por la ciencia: que todos somos portadores del mismo código genético de base; por eso nos une un lazo de consanguinidad, haciéndonos parientes, primos y hermanos y hermanas a unos de otros; de aquí la importancia de respetarnos y de amarnos mutuamente y jamás usar violencia entre nosotros y contra los demás seres, nuestros hermanos y hermanas. Este modo de ser podrá abrirnos un camino de superación de la crisis ecológica global.

Leonardo Boff, columnista del JB online y ecoteólogo

Traducción de Mª José Gavito Milano

The Magna Carta of holistc Ecology: cry of the Earth/ cry of the poor

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

Before engaging in commentary, is worth noting a few features of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter, Laudato sí’.

This is the first time a Pope had discussed ecology as holistic ecology (because it goes beyond the environment) in such a complete form. Great surprise: he develops the theme within a new ecological paradigm, something that no official document of the UN has yet done. He backs up his discourse with the best data from the life and Earth sciences. He reads the data properly (with sensible or cordial intelligence), because he discerns that beneath them lie human dramas and also much suffering on the part of Mother Earth. The present situation is grave, but Pope Francis always finds reasons for hope and a confidence that humans will find viable solutions. He connects with John Paul II and Benedict XVI, the Popes who preceded him, quoting them frequently. And there is something absolutely new: his text is written collegially, because it values the contributions of scores of Episcopal Conferences from around the world, from the Episcopal Conference of the United States to the those of Germany, Brazil, Patagonia-Comahue, and Paraguay. He also welcomes the contributions of other thinkers, such as the Catholics Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Romano Guardini, Dante Alighieri, his Argentinean teacher Juan Carlos Scannone, the Protestant Paul Ricoeur and the Moslem Sufi Ali Al-Khawwas. It is addressed to all of humanity, because we all inhabit the same Common Home (a term the Pope often uses), and we all endure the same threats.

Pope Francis writes not as a Teacher and Doctor of the faith, but as a zealous Pastor who cares for the Common Home and for all the beings, not just the human ones, that inhabit her.

One aspect is worth noting, in that it reveals Pope Francis’ forma mentis (the way he organizes his thinking). It derives from the pastoral and theological experience of the Latin American churches, that in light of the documents of the Latin American Bishops (CELAM) of Medellín (1968), Puebla (1979) and Aparecida (2007), undertook an option for the poor; against poverty and for liberation.

The text and tone of the encyclical are typical of Pope Francis and the accumulated ecological culture, but I notice also that many expressions and forms of speech belong to the thinking and writings principally found in Latin America. The «Common Home», «Mother Earth», the «cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor», «caring», the «interdependence among all beings», the «poor and vulnerable», the «change of paradigm», the «human being as Earth» who feels, thinks, loves and venerates, of the «holistic ecology» and others, are recurrent themes among us.

The structure of the encyclical follows the methodology used by our churches and the theological reflection linked to the practice of liberation, now assumed and consecrated by the Pope: see, judge, act and celebrate.

The Pope starts by revealing his primary inspiration: Saint Francis of Assisi, whom he calls an «example par excellence of caring and of holistic ecology, and who gave special attention to the poorest and abandoned.» (nº 10 y 66).

And then he starts with seeing: «What is happening in our home» (17-61). The Pope says: «it is enough to view reality with sincerity to see that there is great damage to our Common Home» (61). In this section he incorporates the most reliable data related to climate change (20-22), the issue of water (27-31), the erosion of biodiversity (32-42), the deterioration of the quality of human life and degradation of social life (43-47). He denounces the extreme global inequality, that affects all aspects of life (48-52), the poor being the principal victims (48).

In this part there is a phrase that refers us to a reflection done in Latin America: «But now we cannot help but recognize that a true ecological plan always becomes a social plan that must incorporate justice into debates about the environment so as to hear the cry of the Earth as well as the cry of the poor» (49). Then he adds: «the moan of sister Earth joins the wail of the abandoned of the world» (53). This is absolutely coherent, because at the beginning he said that «we are Earth» (2; cf. Gn 2,7), very much in line with the great Indigenous Argentinean singer and poet Atahualpa Yupanqui: «the human being is Earth that walks, feels, thinks and loves».

He condemns the proposal to internationalize the Amazon because it «would only serve multinational economic interests» (38). He makes a proclamation of great ethical value: «it is a very grave inequity to obtain important benefits by forcing the rest of humanity, present and future, to bear the cost, through the extremely high level of environmental degradation» (36).

With sadness he recognizes that: «never before had we mistreated and damaged our Common Home as we have done in the last two centuries» (53). In the face of this human offensive against Mother Earth that many scientists have denounced as inaugurating a new geological era –the antrophocene– he laments the weakness of the powers of this world that, mistakenly, «think that everything can continue as it is» as an excise to «maintain their self-destructive habits» (59) with «behavior that appears suicidal» (55).

Prudently, Pope Francis recognizes the diversity of opinions (nn 60-61) and that «there is not just one unique solution» (60). Even so «it is true that the world system is unsustainable from diverse points of view because we no longer think of the consequences of human action» (61) and we get lost in the construction of means directed at unlimited accumulation at the price of ecological injustice (degradation of the ecosystems) and of social injustice (impoverishment of the populations). Humanity, simply, «has betrayed divine expectations» (61).

The urgent challenge, then, consists of «protecting our Common Home» (13); And to that end we need, quoting Pope John Paul II: «a global ecological conversion» (5); «a culture of caring that pervades the whole society» (231).

Having considered the dimension of seeing, is important now to examine the dimension of judging. Judging is addressed from two viewpoints, scientific and theological.

Let’s examine the scientific. The encyclical devotes the entire third chapter to analyzing «the human roots of the ecological crisis» (101-136). Here the Pope proposes to analyze techno-science without prejudice, acknowledging that it has brought «really valuable things to improve humanity’s quality of life» (103). But this is not the problem. Rather, it became independent, subjugating the economy, politics and nature to the accumulation of material goods (cf. 109). Techno-science begins from a mistaken assumption about the «infinite availability of the planet’s resources» (106), when we know that we have already reached the physical limits of the Earth and that a great part of its goods and services are not renewable. Techno-science has become technocracy, a true dictatorship with its iron logic of domination over everything and everyone (108).

The great illusion, now prevalent, lies in believing that with technocracy all the ecological problems can be solved. This is a misleading idea because it «implies isolating things that are always connected» (111). In reality, «all is related» (117) «all is in relationship» (120), an affirmation that runs throughout the text of the encyclical as a ritornello, for it is a key concept of the new contemporary paradigm. The great limit of technocracy lies in the fact that it «fragments knowledge and loses the meaning of the whole» (110). Worse still is «not recognizing the proper value of each being and even denying the special value of the human being» (n.118).

The intrinsic value of each being, no matter how minuscule, is permanently enshrined in the encyclical (69), as in the Earthcharter. Denying that intrinsic value denies the opportunity for «each being to communicate its message and give glory to God» (33).

The main deviation produced by technocracy is anthropocentrism. It falsely supposes that things have value only to the degree that they are useful to humans, forgetting that their existence has value in and of itself (33). If it is true that everything is related, then «we human beings are together as brothers and sisters and are united with tender affection to brother Sun, sister Moon, brother River and Mother Earth» (92). How can we strive to dominate them, and view them through the narrow scope of domination?

All the «ecological virtues» (88) are lost by the desire for power, seen as the domination of the others and of nature. We are experiencing a painful «loss of the meaning of life and the will to live together» (110). He quotes several times Italo-German theologian Romano Guardini (1885-1968), one of the most read thinkers of the mid XX century, who wrote a book critical of the pretensions of modernity (105 note 83: Das Ende der Neuzeit, The End of the Modern World, 1958).

The other type of judging is theological. The encyclical devotes much space to the «Gospel of Creation» (62-100). In part justifying the contribution of the religions and of Christianity, because since the crisis is global, each one, with its religious capital, must contribute to caring for the Earth, (62). He does not concentrate on doctrine, but on the wisdom present in the different spiritual paths. Christianity prefers to talk of creation rather than nature, because «creation has to do with a project of love from God» (76). He quotes, more than once. a beautiful text from the book of Wisdom (11,24) where it clearly appears that «the creation belongs to the order of love» (77) and that God is “the Lord who loves life” (Sab 11,26).

The text is open to an evolutionary vision of the universe, without using the term. It engages in circumlocution when referring to the universe as «composed of open systems that enter into communion, one with another» (79). He uses the principal texts that link the incarnated and resurrected Christ with the world and with all of the universe, making matter and the entire Earth sacred (83). And in this context, Pope Francis quotes Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955; nº 83 note 53), as the precursor of this cosmic vision.

A consequence of the fact that God-Trinity is a relationship of divine Persons is that all things in relationships are resonant of the divine Trinity (240).

Quoting Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, he «recognizes that sins against creation are sins against God» (7). Hence the urgency of a collective ecological conversion to restore the lost harmony.

The encyclical concludes this part with certitude: «the analysis showed the need for a change of course… we must get out of the spiral of self-destruction into which we are now sinking» (163). It is not about reform, but, quoting the Earthcharter, about searching for «a new beginning» (207). The interdependency of everything leads us to think «of a single world with a common project» (164).

Since there are multiple aspects to reality, all intimately related, Pope Francis proposes a holistic ecology that goes beyond the environmental ecology to which we are accustomed, (137). Holistic ecology covers all fields, the environment, economy, social, cultural, and daily life (147-148). The encyclical never forgets the poor whose living links of belonging and solidarity with one another are a testament to their form of human and social ecology, (149).

The third methodological step is to act. In this part, the encyclical touches the great themes of international, national and local politics (164-181). He emphasizes the interdependence of the social and educational with the ecological, and with sadness, confirms the difficulties caused by the predominance of technology, impeding the changes that could restrain the voracity of accumulation and consumption, and inaugurate a new paradigm, (141). He retakes the theme that the economy and politics must serve the common good, and create the conditions for a possible human plenitude (189-198). Again he insists on a dialogue between science and religion, as suggested by the great biologist Edward O. Wilson (cf. the book, Creation: how to save life in the Earth, 2008). All religions «must seek to care for nature and to defend the poor» (201).

Also in the aspect of acting he challenges education to create an «ecological citizenry» (211) and a new life style, based on caring, compassion, shared sobriety, an alliance between humanity and the environment, because they are inextricably linked, the joint responsibility for all that exists and lives, and for our common destiny (203-208).

Finally, the moment to celebrate. The celebration is realized in a context of «ecological conversion» (216) that implies an «ecological spirituality» (216). This spirituality derives not so much from theological doctrines as from the motivation elicited by faith to care for the Common Home and «to nourish a passion for caring for the world» (216). This experience precedes a mysticism that mobilizes people to live an ecological equilibrium, «the interior with itself, the solidarian with the others, the natural with all the living beings and the spiritual with God» (210). That «less is more» and that we can be happy with little then appears to be the truth.

In the context of celebration, «the world is something more than a problem to be resolved, it is a delightful mystery we contemplate with joyful praise» (12).

The tender and fraternal spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi runs through the entire text of the encyclical Laudato sí’. The present situation does not call for an announcement of tragedy, but a challenge, that we may care for our Common Home and for others. There is in the text a lightness, poetry and joy in the Spirit and the indestructible hope that if the threat is great, greater still is the opportunity to solve our ecological problems.

He ends poetically “Beyond the sun” with these words: «Let’s walk singing. May our struggles and concern for this planet not deprive us of the joy of hope» (244).

I would like to end with the final words of the Earthcharter that Pope Francis also quotes (207): «May our times be remembered for awaking a new reverence for life, for the firm resolution to reach sustainability, for accelerating the struggle for justice and peace, and for the joyful celebration of life».
Free translation from the Spanish by
Servicios Koinonia, http://www.servicioskoinonia.org.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU..