The Holy Father's recent encyclical is the biggest thing in Christianity since the Second Vatican Council.

Tuesday, 6/30/15

People around us are becoming aware that this last encyclical of Pope Francis is not just another batch of holy words out of Rome. It is the biggest Christian event since the Second Vatican Council.

Its introduction made mention of God in Genesis giving mankind dominion over the world of nature. As truly central to this encyclical is our Pope’s pointing out that for too long we have been using our dominion over nature as our license to exploit the world for financial gain. But, what God meant by giving us dominion over nature was that he was entrusting nature to us to be kindly cared for

You are given a hint at the scope of this encyclical if you look through the footnotes the Holy Father appended to his encyclical. The footnotes alone take up fifteen pages.

Sadly, the thoroughness of the encyclical is its drawback.  We can easily be captured by an inverse snobbery that scorns footnotes.

Shouldn’t we join our Pope in his love for Francis of Assisi who saw the world of nature as his little sister? Shouldn’t we follow him in taking as our top priority that of protecting our sister from ruin?The Pope's recent encyclical is the biggest Christian even since the Second Vatican Council