For the record: "Dicastery for promoting Integral Human Development" established.

Since 2014 (see this report) the merging of four Pontifical Councils --  Justice and Peace, “Cor Unum”, Health Care Workers, and Migrants and Itinerant Peoples -- into a "super-Congregation" had been widely expected. The super-Congregation was initially expected to be named the "Congregation for Charity and Justice". 

Today (August 31) the new body was formally established through the Apostolic Letter Humanam Progressionem. It was named, not after "Charity and Justice" (which at least are the names of virtues), but as the "Dicastery for promoting Integral Human Development" -- a name that can only be described as unmistakably secular.

The first paragraph of Humanam Progressionem duly mentions the Gospel, but is marked by this secularized, "NGO" tone:

In all her being and actions, the Church is called to promote the integral development of the human person in the light of the Gospel. This development takes place by attending to the inestimable goods of justice, peace, and the care of creation. The Successor of the Apostle Peter, in his work of affirming these values, is continuously adapting the institutions which collaborate with him, so that they may better meet the needs of the men and women whom they are called to serve.

Various news sources name Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson --  current President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and known for the enthusiasm with which he has promoted Laudato Si (which he recently called the "Rerum novarum of the 21st century") -- as the head of the new body. He will turn 68 in October of this year. The last President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers (Archbishop Zimowski) died last month at the age of 67, the Presidency of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" has been vacant since Cardinal Sarah was transferred to CDW, and the President of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, Cardinal Veglio, is already 78 years old.

Francis Effect: Cardinal Turkson says don't breed like rabbits in order to save Mother Earth

We will avoid editorializing on whether the Church has "never been against birth control" as this type of statement is simply a symptom of the horrific state of modern religious formation. Prelates and priests preach incorrect ideas, sadly, on a daily basis. They are not infallible -- even on issues of faith and morals.

The primary issue is, once again, that Pope Francis led the way to this thinking, both in the insensitive and simple-minded way he lambasted large Catholic families  (see here) and in his fixation on climate change (see here).

Cue Peter Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and Francis' lead on so-called climate issues, on why Catholics should shun accepting God's will in order to save Mother Earth:

From the BBC:

COP21: Cardinal says birth control may offer climate 'solution'

One of the Catholic Church's most senior prelates has said that birth control could "offer a solution" to the impacts of climate change.

"The Pope has denied that he's a leftist!" Or has he?How the Catholic mainstream media spins just as much as the secular media. - PLUS:What the Pope REALLY said about Cuba

[Read also our post on Francis' meeting with Fidel Castro: Has the Church surrendered to Fidel Castro?]

Tonight, various news agencies and websites representing what some would call the "Catholic mainstream media" are going wild with reports that the Pope has just denied that he is a leftist. 

Now, let's have a look at what he really said during his in-flight press conference from Cuba to the United States. The full transcript (in translation, naturally) of the in-flight press conference can be read on the Catholic News Agency's website. (Full transcript of Pope's in-flight interview from Cuba to US.) 

First, regarding his denial of being a leftist, here's what Pope Francis actually said:

A cardinal friend of mine told me that a very concerned woman, very Catholic, went to him. A bit rigid, but Catholic. And she asked him if it was true that in the Bible, they spoke of an antichrist, and she explained it to him. And also in the Apocalypse, no? And, then, if it was true that an anti-pope, who is the antichrist, the anti-Pope. But why is she asking me this question, this cardinal asked me? “Because I’m sure that Pope Francis is the anti-pope,” she said. And why does she ask this, why does she have this idea? “It’s because he doesn’t wear red shoes.” The reason for thinking if one is communist or isn’t communist. I’m sure that I haven't said anything more than what’s written in the social doctrine of the Church. On another flight, a colleague asked me if I had reached out a hand to the popular movements and asked me, “But is the Church going to follow you?” I told him, “I’m the one following the Church.” And in this it seems that I’m not wrong. I believe that I never said a thing that wasn’t the social doctrine of the Church. Things can be explained, possibly an explanation gave an impression of being a little “to the left”, but it would be an error of explanation. No, my doctrine on this, in Laudato si', on economic imperialism, all of this, is the social doctrine of the Church. And it if necessary, I’ll recite the creed. I am available to do that, eh.

Look! There! Aha! The Pope denies being a leftist! In fact what the Pope does here is to refer to an unspecified explanation of the things he has said that "give an impression" of being left-leaning ("a little to the left") and then says that it is an erroneous explanation. The fact is we do not know exactly what he is describing here as the "erroneous" explanation of his thinking, or even what he means here by being "to the left", which can mean vastly different things on either side of the equator. If anything, this looks like a non-denial denial. This, like so many other things coming from this Pope, is cloaked in so many verbal vagaries that it is hard to have a precise idea of what he actually has in mind.  More to the point is what he says about Cuba in the rest of the interview, Cuba being an unmistakably Communist regime. 

Has the Church surrendered to Fidel Castro?

As widely reported on secular media Pope Francis met yesterday (Sunday, September 20) with the retired ex-dictator of Cuba, Fidel Castro. It is reported on good authority that it was Francis, not Mr. Castro, who sought this meeting; it was not on the official calendar of the visit. Francis had expressed his "sentiments of particular respect and consideration" specifically for Fidel Castro during his first speech in Cuba on Saturday evening and their actual meeting was, in Fr. Federico Lombardi's words, "'familiar and informal," with the two speaking about "protecting the environment and the great problems of the contemporary world." Lombardi also notes that Francis and Castro's exchange was "more of a conversation" (in other words, more relaxed and cordial) compared to the 2012 meeting between Castro and Pope Benedict XVI, when the former had peppered the latter with questions. 

The Holy See's New Alliances - I.Behind Laudato Si: Meet the Irish dissident who was one of the chief advisors behind this encylical - and what he said about its theology

The New Yorker published last week a long opinion piece (A Radical Vatican?) by Naomi Klein, a radical eco-feminist (and abortion supporter who has publicly disparaged pro-lifers) who was specifically invited by the Vatican to be one of the four speakers at a major press conference held on July 1 in the Aula Giovanni Paolo II, organized by the Holy See Press Office and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The press conference's goal was to introduce the international conference “People and Planet First: the Imperative to Change Course” held in the Augustinianum on July 2-3. The conference was co-hosted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace along with CIDSE, an international alliance of 17 Catholic Development Organisations; predictably it focused to a great extent on Laudato Si. Klein also served as a panelist during the conference at the Augustinianum.

"A Radical Vatican?" is noteworthy not only as an example of how secular figures that the Vatican itself considers as allies are treating the encyclical as an epochal break from Catholic tradition, but also for its passages about the theological intentions behind the encyclical. (See below; emphases ours.) Here we find Naomi Klein quoting Fr. Seán McDonagh, who is part of the "administrative team" of the ultra-liberal and theologically dissident "Association of Catholic Priests" (ACP) in Ireland -- and was involved in drafting the encyclical. McDonagh's role in drafting Laudato Si is trumpeted not just by the ACP's website (which calls him "one of the chief advisors to the Vatican in the composition of the encylical") but by his own congregation (the Columbans -- see this) and by Vatican Radio, which not only acknowledges that he was one of the theologians consulted for the encyclical, but also chose to interview him about its importance. (Keep in mind that it is exceedingly rare for any of the actual drafters or advisors for an Encyclical to be publicly identified by official Church sources.)

Videos show two very different views of role of Church in the world

Two videos caught our eye recently.

The first video is a new seminary project update from the Society of St. Pius X (which serves more as a traditional explanation of the priesthood) and the second a video with the head of the Franciscans explaining Laudato Si.

WARNING: The Minister General sings Laudato Si and it may be nearly impossible to get it out of your head once you've heard it.

Eminently Forgettable

Edgar Degas
The Ironing Ladies (1886)/ (detail)
Musée d'Orsay

Four days on, and no one is speaking of the most important and revolutionary encyclical in the history of mankind and all creation anymore...

No Rerum Novarum...

The "Super Encyclical" is here

The welcome graphic for the Encyclical on the Vatican website. 

Not very subtle about its target. 

***

ENCYCLICAL LETTER

LAUDATO SI’

OF THE HOLY FATHER

FRANCIS

ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME

1. “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”.[1]

2. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.

[More on the Vatican website]

***

Update: Word Cloud of the Encyclical: Not exactly "He must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn 3:30). The red arrow at the very bottom towards the right side points to the nominal use of Our Lord's name in the Encyclical. 

"He that cometh from above, is above all. He that is of the earth, of the earth he is, and of the earth he speaketh. He that cometh from heaven, is above all." (Jn. 3:31)

The Encyclical and the Synod: A Miscellany

On the Encyclical:

1) Towards the end of yesterday's General Audience, Pope Francis declared that this upcoming Encyclical "places itself in the line of the Church's social doctrine." (Source.)

Op-Ed: "Rome: the Age of Emptiness"

We are very honored to post this new article by a very wise, knowledgeable, and highly influential cleric, writing under the pen name of don Pio Pace.

***

ROME: THE AGE OF EMPTINESS

Father Pio Pace

The entire world was able to see on their screens, when of the recent papal voyage to Sarajevo, that the pontifical cross, that had broken, was taped back with surgical tape: "A complete symbol!" said with irony the prelates of the pontifical entourage. Yes, a complete symbol. The Church of Peter, in the 21st century, awaits an encyclical...on the environment. It is bad for one or two persons to be alone in a car because that increases the greenhouse-effect gases, so saith the Magisterium of the Holy Catholic Church...

Full contents of Pope's Encyclical Laudato Si now available

Someone leaked (or broke the embargo) of the full contents of the Pope's new encyclical Laudato Si to Italian periodical L'Espresso. Sandro Magister has also made it available.

The whole document, in Italian (pdf file), is available here.

Update: According to Vatican sources, the leaked Espresso text, despite all appearances of a final text, is not the final version... and the final text is still under embargo until Thursday. It is doubtful that the published text will be much different (it is indeed quite likely it will be nearly identical), so the version above is kept at least for the historical record of events.

For Pope's Environment Encyclical, an unusual line-up of presenters for official Vatican press conference, including climate change radical.

The Vatican has just revealed in today's Bollettino the line-up of speakers for the official presentation of the "Environment Encyclical", Laudato Si, on June 18 at the New Synod Hall.

- Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace;


- His Eminence Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon, representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Orthodox Church;


- Prof. John Schellnhuber, Founding Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

Metropolitan John, 84 years old, is the Patriarchate of Constantinople's leading figure in ecumenical discussions and has long been close to the Catholic ecumenical establishment. However this is the first time that an Orthodox metropolitan would be officially co-presenting a papal Encyclical. There are reports that the Encyclical will draw upon the teaching of Patriarch Bartholomew (whose interest in environmental issues is well known) and that there was even a proposal -- which proved to be "not possible" -- that the Encyclical be jointly promulgated by both the Pope and the Patriarch. 

Perhaps of far greater interest to most of our readership would be the presence of Prof. Schellnhuber on the panel. The father of the "two-degree target" to stave off global warming, he is the founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany (which is funded by the German government), Chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He was one of the experts (alongside Jeffrey Sachs) tapped by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences to write their joint statement on climate change published in April of this year, titled "Climate change and the common good: a statement of the problem and the demand for transformative solutions". A description of the final document's call for a "zero-carbon world" can be found here; the final published version seems to have been removed from the official website Pontifical Academy of Sciences, but to our knowledge has never been retracted.