By Mayra Addison—During the first class of my course \u201cEnergy & Environment: A Sustainable Approach\u201d we go over the syllabus and main topics\u2026. and then we reach the part when I say \u201cwe will study two Papal Encyclicals.\u201d After more than 8 years teaching this course, the reactions and the looks on the faces of my students have been varied.\u00a0 From the \u201cpoker face\u201d to the \u201cno big deal\u201d to the \u201cwhat?\u201d I believe I\u2019ve seen it all.\u00a0 After they finish my course, my students change their perceptions; they would even agree that it was well worth it and admit that they are thirsty and curious for the \u201cnext Encyclical\u201d to come out of the Vatican.<\/p>\n
So, what is it about Papal Encyclicals that is so daunting and attractive at the same time?\u00a0 Why so many different reactions to them?\u00a0 The \u201cdaunting\u201d part is understandable seeing as some Encyclicals are very long and hard to understand, even though many have surpassed the greatest \u201cbest sellers\u201d in number of readers. Sometimes Encyclicals address very controversial issues.\u00a0 In 1891, Rerum Novarum (of New Things) was locked in the safe of a European Cathedral because it was considered \u201csubversive.[i]<\/a>\u201d In fact, many of them proved to be ahead of their time[ii]<\/a> \u2013 wouldn\u2019t you want to know what\u2019s next in the world?<\/p>\n What are they?<\/strong><\/p>\n The word encyclical takes its root from the Latin \u201cencyclicus,\u201d a Latinization of a Greek word that means “circular”, “in a circle”, or “all-round” [iii]<\/a>(the word \u201cencyclopedia\u201d has the same root).\u00a0 Encyclicals started as letters of the Pope to be \u201ccirculated\u201d within a specific group within the church to address issues of concern, point out dangers that might affect the Church or the world, exhort for action or constancy, and prescribe remedies.\u00a0 For example, Pope Leo XIII, towards the end of his pontificate, wrote many short Encyclical letters (some of them less than one page long) addressed to specific bishops regarding current issues of concern in their region, such as the introduction of civil marriage in Ecuador, the weakening of the faith in Bohemia and Moravia, and the establishment of seminaries in Greece, to name a few.\u00a0 They resemble the loving pen of a concerned father for his children, urging them to persevere in the values that rule the Christian family.\u00a0 The better known Encyclicals, however, were addressed to the whole church, under the formula \u201cTo Our Venerable Brethren, the Patriarchs, Primates,\u00a0Archbishops, Bishops, and other Local Ordinaries having\u00a0Peace and Communion with the Holy See, and to the Clergy and faithful of the Entire World.\u201c\u00a0 But most recent Encyclicals, since S. John XXIII\u2019s Pacem in Terra in 1963, expanded the address to include \u201cAll Men and Women of Goodwill\u201d, making modern Encyclicals not just for Catholics, but for humanity.<\/p>\n Why are they important?<\/strong><\/p>\n Why do modern Encyclicals concern all of humanity, not just the Catholic faithful?\u00a0 They address and shed light on issues that are the subject of confusion and debate among humans of all faiths and beliefs, and give us a platform of understanding, not just from the point of view of a catholic Pontiff, but from a rich fount of humanistic and theological principles.\u00a0 Take Benedict XIII\u2019s Caritas in Veritate<\/a> (2009) and Francis\u2019s Laudato Si<\/a> (2015).\u00a0 Both address the environment.\u00a0 Is the environment a Catholic problem? No, it\u2019s a human problem.\u00a0\u00a0 Pope Benedict introduces the notion that the environment is gratis[iv]<\/a>, a gift from our Creator to humanity, so we can extract from it to satisfy our physical human needs \u2013 most people would agree with this.\u00a0 Because it is a gift to our generation, and it was a gift to the generations before us, it should be the same quality of gift to the generations to come \u2013 again, we can agree to this too.<\/p>\n Therefore, it is our duty as humanity to care for the environment so when we leave this world we leave it a gift as good as it was for us to our children, and the children of our children.\u00a0 While there seems to be no novelty in the notion that we are stewards of the environment, Pope Benedict opens our mind to understand the gratuity of the gift, and the charity involved in keeping the environment in good shape for the next generations of humanity, elevating our miniscule individual role to a transcendent, more supernatural one embedded in charity and love.<\/p>\n Pope Francis, in Laudato si, warns against consumerism as one of the most harmful human actions to the environment[v]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 Wait\u2026it\u2019s not CO2? Then, is humanity responsible for climate change? Pope Francis\u2019s Encyclical argues that taking from the environment more than what we need is what harms it.\u00a0 Think of the effect on the environment of buying a product that you do not really need, of the amount of energy used to generate this product, the amount of resources taken from the environment, so this product, container or food ends up as trash without being \u201cconsumed\u201d as intended. You get the picture.\u00a0 And then you realize that the problem is not only the polluting industry, not the private jet or the large SUV to drive around the city.\u00a0 It was me, you, all of us humans who purchased something that we did not really need.\u00a0 Is that charity?\u00a0 Is that love or \u201cself-love\u201d?<\/p>\n Did your understanding of the environmental problem change?\u00a0 If so, then you see one small example of how Encyclicals work, how they can elevate and enhance our view of the problem and the response to the human question.\u00a0 The last 120 years have seen a prolific number of Encyclicals that are worth studying.\u00a0 From economic development (Populorum Progressio<\/a>), to how the relationship between men and women and the make up of the family can change with the pill (Humane Vitae<\/a>), a constant theme has been that most of them were controversial at their time, but all of them were accurate in their warnings and predictions.<\/p>\n Where to start?<\/strong><\/p>\n How can Encyclicals be read and understood in an easy way? Keeping an open mind is key to understanding Encyclicals, because they challenge the popular perception of the problem in many ways.\u00a0 Getting a \u201cstudy guide\u201d is also a good idea.\u00a0 There are several sources for study guides in the Internet, but beware of the source or organization providing them.\u00a0 Starting a \u201cstudy group\u201d among friends to analyze an Encyclical can be fun and bring up interesting debate, such as in a book club.\u00a0 You just need to start reading one\u2026and then you might get \u201chooked\u201d on them.<\/p>\n Mayra Addison<\/a><\/p>\n Cameron School of Business, adjunct faculty member<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [i]<\/a> Catholic Social Teaching \u2013 Faith in a Better World.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.catholicsocialteaching.org.uk\/principles\/faqs\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [ii]<\/a> Rerum Novarum in 1891 anticipates the failure of socialism and Marxism, and introduces the concept of the State as the custodian of the \u201ccommon good\u201d.\u00a0 Socialism is \u201canti natural\u201d because men are all different \u201cit is impossible to reduce civil society to one dead level. Socialists may in that intent do their utmost, but all striving against nature is in vain. There naturally exist among mankind manifold differences of the most important kind\u201d Paragraph 17.\u00a0 Marxism is failed at its base because \u201cThe great mistake made in regard to the matter now under consideration is to take up with the notion that class is naturally hostile to class, and that the wealthy and the working men are intended by nature to live in mutual conflict. So irrational and so false is this view that the direct contrary is the truth\u2026Each needs the other: capital cannot do without labor, nor labor without capital. Mutual agreement results in the beauty of good order, while perpetual conflict necessarily produces confusion and savage barbarity.\u201d Paragraph 19. \u201cit lies in the power of a ruler to benefit every class in the State, and amongst the rest to promote to the utmost the interests of the poor; and this in virtue of his office, and without being open to suspicion of undue interference – since it is the province of the commonwealth to serve the common good.\u201d Paragraph 32.<\/p>\n Humanae Vitae in 1968 predicted, in a somewhat prophetic way, the change in the relationships between men and women with the introduction of the pill\u00a0 (section 17).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [iii]<\/a> Merriam Webster Dictionary<\/p>\n <\/p>\n