The Pope on animal protection

[safeinOhio]

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/pope-francis-animal-protection/

The Vatican released Pope Francis’s new encyclical on the environment, and it is truly historic. The encyclical, or letter, from the Pope is full of references to animals and calls on all of us to embrace a more humane path. The encyclical is named “Praised Be” (Laudato Si) after St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun, in which the Saint praises God for animals and creation.

In the encyclical, the Pope reminds us, “We read in the Gospel that Jesus says of the birds of the air that ‘not one of them is forgotten before God’ ( Lk 12:6). How then can we possibly mistreat them or cause them harm?”

The Pope also calls on us all to be better stewards of all creation, noting that “[e]ach organism, as a creature of God, is good and admirable in itself.” He condemns the view that humankind has “absolute domination over other creatures” as a misinterpretation of God’s grant of “dominion” over creation.

The Pope notes that “our indifference or cruelty towards fellow creatures of this world sooner or later affects the treatment we mete out to other human beings. We have only one heart, and the same wretchedness which leads us to mistreat an animal will not be long in showing itself in our relationships with other people. Every act of cruelty towards any creature is ‘contrary to human dignity’.”

[cbayer]

1. This is wonderful.

I think this encyclical will be the foundation of his legacy.

Although he's not going to go anywhere with many of the issues that are important to me, I think the environment is the number one most pressing issue on the human agenda.

Taking care of the animals that have been entrusted to us is an important part of that.

[skepticscott]

2. Sheesh..unbelievable

There have been people and organizations championing environmental causes for over a century, doing real grassroots work to preserve the natural world, and you're gushing over the wonderpope for his johnny-come-lately, substance free PR stunt? Why don't you start by giving credit to the people who really deserve it on this issue?

[Dorian Gray]

3. I'm sure

those very people will appreciate his words and the potential eyes that may open because of them.

People have been working hard on environmental issues. They're important issues. More voices added to the chorus help.

[skepticscott]

5. Being part of the chorus is not "working hard"

If I'd been working every day on environmental issues for decades, real, hands-on work, I'd want to know where the fuck the pope and the RCC had been all that time, and why they are only now making noise, and even then only to grab attention with a PR stunt.

[safeinOhio]

4. He is going on the tradition of St. Francis

that goes back 8 centuries.

[sammythecat]

10. unbelievable?

So we should deride every johnny-come-lately who has a change of heart but hasn't been championing your favorite causes since the age of 10? Ask them where they've been all this time and then tell them to just fuck-off? I would have thought this is exactly what you and other environmental champions have been working for all along, to change peoples thinking and behavior. And the more powerful and influential they are the better.

[skepticscott]

11. The unbelievable part

is someone trying to give the johnny-come-lately more credit than people who've been fighting on these issues for decades.

The post I was responding too was all about trying to make the pope look like the biggest hero here, not about championing environmental causes.

Try again.

[Act_of_Reparation]

12. It isn't that he's Johnny Come-Lately...

...it's that these vapid appeals to established propositions are probably a matter of political expedience. However sincere he may be in his dedication to environmentalism (granted, I have no evidence of him taking up this cause prior to a few years ago), that is ultimately overshadowed by his institution's dire need to rehabilitate its image from past scandal and divert public attention from ongoing scandal.

I'll give credit to anyone sincere in their dedication, or even "conversion", to a worthy cause. But you'll have to excuse me when the person in question heads an organization that, until recently, was best known for its complicity in literally thousands of cases of child rape.

[okasha]

6. I think Francis is saying

the same thing as First Nations Elders: this is the time in human history when we literally make it or break it. If we don't deal, and deal correctly, with climate change, none of our other problems will matter.

[cbayer]

8. Agree. Priorities matter.

As much as I would like to see him take a stand on some of the other issues I care about, if I had to choose one, it would be this.

[goldent]

13. I like it and it is very heartwarming

It will endear the Pope to many many people. I imagine when you write a series of encyclicals, you have the right to throw in a "warm and fuzzy" one now and again.

[cbayer]

14. Agree.

Even some people that are terribly hardhearted towards other humans, are amazingly soft when it come to animals.

Appealing to the best of their natures in this cause is a good thing, imo.

[mr blur]

7. Well, so what?

The Pope notes that “our indifference or cruelty towards fellow creatures of this world sooner or later affects the treatment we mete out to other human beings.

How about " Every act of cruelty towards" a gay person?

[trotsky]

9. Well, as Pope Awesome explained...

"unjust discrimination" of the LGBTQ community should be avoided. "Just" discrimination is clearly A-OK.

This is why all the adulation of Frank makes me sick. He and his church hate anyone who isn't cis/straight yet wants to live their life they way they feel. As Frank himself made perfectly clear with his oft-misused "Who am I to judge?" bit.