Pope Francis Message: Care For Creation

Friday, Nov. 24, 2023

Richard Sherlock 

On Oct. 4, Pope Francis released an apostolic exhortation titled Laudate Deum (Praise God), a follow-up to his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si (Care for Creation). The date of the release was significant: Oct. 4 is the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment. 

This new exhortation, addressed “to all people of goodwill,” is especially relevant to those of us in the Diocese of Salt Lake City because about 45 percent of the diocese is undeveloped Bureau of Land Management or Forest Service land, as well as five national parks and seven national monuments. Some are very well known such as Zions National Park, Bryce Canyon and Arches National Monument.

Thus, those of us in our diocese as well as all people in Utah should carefully study Pope Francis’s message about climate change, care for creation, and our responsibility to recognize and protect our common home that God has given us.

The first section of the exhortation reviews the nature of the global climate crisis. It also reviews the failures of global institutions and conferences to fully engage this issue. We might say that “talk is cheap; action is what is needed.” Pope Francis put it this way: “We must move beyond the mentality of appearing to be concerned but not having the courage needed to produce substantial changes.” 

The exhortation states clearly that this is not a problem of overpopulation, nor is it a problem limited to poor countries. This is a problem for developed countries like the United States of America and its various states, including ours.

Technology cannot solve this crisis. It can be a help, but it cannot do the hard work. Neither can global institutions, for they have not done what is needed. What we need is not something external to us. What we need is a change of heart. We must commit ourselves to follow God’s path and protect the beauty of the earth and what science teaches us about the threats to the earth. This is a perfect example of the Catholic teaching of the unity of faith and reason.

All persons must recognize that when God created the earth, he first said that it “was very good” (Gen.1:32). Furthermore, we are told that the earth and “all that is in it” is God’s. We are not owners but tenants (cf Lev.25:23).

The delicate balance of nature is God’s gift to us, a message that Pope Francis reinforces by quoting from his earlier encyclical Laudato Si: “Responsibility for God’s earth means that human beings, endowed with intelligence, must respect the laws of nature and the delicate equilibrium that exists between the creatures and the world.” 

All people must see themselves as part of nature, not above it. This beauty, balance and organization of nature is God’s gift to us. As human beings with reason and ability, it is our responsibility to preserve and protect our common home.

All parts of our diocese have their own beauty and order. On the west desert one can gaze at the night sky and be in awe of the beauty of the heavens. We can cherish Delicate Arch and the cliffs of Bryce Canyon. We can marvel at the high Uintas’ wilderness. St. Bonaventure would refer to these as “exemplars” of divine beauty order, and goodness. God has given us this marvelous creation. He has also given us intelligence and responsibility to care for it.

Modern cultures seem to think that human beings are the masters of creation rather than the creator. As Pope Francis has told us at the end of the exhortation: “When the human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies.”