Sunday, 6/21/15
The Church suggested that priests today should speak about
the new encyclical from Pope Francis. Since Papal encyclicals are all known by
their opening Latin words, it is common to open an encyclical with a phrase
that hints at the encyclical’s message.
So, when Pope John XXIII wrote an encyclical on world peace,
for its opening phrase he used the words, “Pacem
in Terra” or “Peace on earth.” Likewise, in 1891 when Pope Leo XXIII radically
broke with the past in writing about the rights of laborers, for that he opened
his encyclical with the Latin phrase, “Rerum
Novarum” or
“Of new matters.”
Commentators today are comparing this encyclical of Pope
Francis to that one of Leo XIII
written 124 years ago. No papal document since then has been more of a
bombshell.
But, the name of this new encyclical is puzzling. It is
“Laudato Si,” and that isn’t even Latin. It is half the opening line of a
canticle of St. Francis Assisi, and it was written in Italian. Our Pope’s
family, the Bergoglio clan, emigrated
from Italy to Brazil in the last century, and they brought with them a
deep love for the poetry of Francis Assisi.
The Canticle from which Pope Francis borrows his title was
called “Laudabo Si, mi’ Signore”
or “I praise you, Lord.” The canticle beautifully praises God for giving
us this green earth as our companionable sister through life.
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