Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Kevin ClarkeJune 10, 2015
Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski

As the June 18 release of the pope's encyclical on the environment approaches, pre-emptive commentary either lauding or diminishing its so-far unseen contents continues apace. Asked to comment on the galloping punditry that has anticipated the encyclical, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski noted with some amazement the willingness of many folks "making these arguments without having even read the encyclical or engaged [its] arguments." 

Speaking at the U.S. bishops' spring meeting in St. Louis, Wenski, chairman of the bishops' committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, added, "The pope is not approaching [climate change] as a scientist or as a politician, but as a pastor and a teacher, so I think he will transcend some of the partisan categories [within which] this debate over climate change has taken place." Pope Francis will be a "new voice and perspective," Wenski said.

"I think the right and the left will have reason to be happy with parts of the encyclical, and I think the right and the left will have reasons to be annoyed by the encyclical," he said, adding with a wry smile, "because that’s what the Catholic Church does." But whatever Pope Francis says about the environment in the upcoming letter, Wenski said it would derive from an already rich history of church teaching on stewardship, sustainable development and the protection of creation.

"The pope is not speaking out of a vacuum; the church has been concerned about this for a long time." Wenski pointed out that many aspects of the U.S. bishops' 2001 statement on climate change, in fact, remain relevant to the contemporary debate. Noting that the issue has been one taken up by previous popes, Wenski pointed out that such was Pope Benedict XVI's attention to the issue he was known as "the green pope."

Following the release of the encyclical next Thursday, Wenski said, "Pope Francis will probably now be known as the 'greener' pope."

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

The Vatican has named the judges that will preside over the trial of disgraced Father Marko Rupnik.
For so many of us, Roger Haight marked off a breathtakingly wide horizon in which we, agreeing with him or not, could fulfil our mission for God’s people.
Although “Nonnas” is not an explicitly religious movie, the film’s motif of meals as a conduit for community is certainly also found in the Catholic imagination.
Grace CoppsJuly 03, 2025
The world of academic theology is facing the cumulative effect of long-building forces, forces reshaping not only theology but the entire structure of higher education.
Jason KingJuly 03, 2025