Home
Left: Europa 2016--Think Green (Scott 1621) Right: 50th Anniversary of Earth Day (Scott 1739, 2020) 
Left: Europa 2021: Endangered Wildlife (Scott 1768) Right: UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration: Stamp made from recycled plastic bottles (Scott 1804, 2022) On October 4, Pope Francis released his latest apostolic exhortation, entitled Laudate Deum (Praise God). The document is an impassioned call for action on the “climate crisis.” It is probably not a coincidence that the exhortation was released on the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, who was so closely tied to nature and the environment. He is also the patron saint of ecology. Laudate Deum comes eight years after Pope Francis’s encyclical addressing climate change and its effects on the environment, Laudato Si. In that statement, released in 2015, the pope shared his concerns about the “care of our common home”, which was the subtitle of the document. In form and presentation, Laudate Deum comes across as more of a political statement than a pronouncement of religious doctrine. Pope Francis liberally cites documents from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He makes definitive declarations on climate science, as well as predictions about future weather-related disasters. He clearly expresses his frustration with the slow pace of policy choices by nations around the world to address the crisis, and specifically identifies and challenges the United States and China. In the National Catholic Register article cited below, Father Raymond de Souza states that Laudate Deum is quite different from most papal pronouncements, and that one needs to go back over 400 years to find something similar: Magisterial documents on social doctrine articulate principles, rather than specific policy measures. On scientific matters, it has been 400 years—during the Galileo affair—since Roman authorities took such specific positions on scientific matters. ‘Laudate Deum’ itself does not offer a rationale for magisterial pronouncement on climatological scientific research, but asserts that such scientific results are “indisputable.” Father de Souza states that Laudate Deum seems to be ‘a document more fitting to the U.N. secretary-general…rather than the Vicar of Christ’. But, he says, Laudate Deum ‘is not a standalone document; it is an extension of Laudato Si’. In one of the opening paragraphs of this new exhortation, Pope Francis ruefully admits: [W]ith the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point. Within the ten years of Pope Francis’s pontificate, the Holy See’s focus on the environment has been evidenced in its philately, with issues presenting themes such as conservation, preservation, recycling and other environmental issues. Examples of stamps are shown above. Also, in 2020, the annual postal card set highlighted Laudato si. It is clear that Pope Francis, through numerous public statements and the companion documents Laudato Si and Laudate Deum, views himself as a driving force towards environmental conservation and global preservation. The reader is directed to the two papal documents Laudato Si and Laudate Deum, which can be accessed by clicking on the links below. The National Catholic Register article provides some insights and commentary. As always, the reader can use these and other references to draw one’s own conclusions regarding a topic that is very much front-and-center both within the Holy See and the world as a whole. REFERENCES Father Raymond J. de Souza, National Catholic Register, October 5, 2023, ‘Laudate Deum’: Pope Francis’ ‘Laudato Si’ Companion Piece on the Environment Vatican.va, Laudato Si Vatican.va, Laudate Deum Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search |
