Reading Francis

As I said in my last post, Laudato Si is too well-written to be left to analysts and reporters alone to read. Here are some more of my favorite quotes:

• “we can speak of the priority of being over that of being useful.” (69, quoting German bishops)
• “The God who created the universe out of nothing can also intervene in this world and overcome every form of evil. Injustice is not invincible.” (74)
• “The best way to restore men and women to their rightful place, putting an end to their claim to absolute dominion over the earth, is to speak once more of the figure of a Father who creates and who alone owns the world. Otherwise, human beings will always try to impose their own laws and interests in reality.” (75)
• “Ever creature is…the object of the Father’s tenderness, who gives it its place in the world. Even the fleeting life of the least of beings is the object of his love, and in its few seconds of existence, God enfolds it with his affection.” (77)
• “A fragile world, entrusted by God to human care, challenges us to devise intelligent ways of directing, developing and limiting our power.” (78)
• “Nature is nothing other than a certain kind of art, namely God’s art.” (80, quoting Thomas Aquinas)
• “When nature is viewed solely as a source of profit and gain, this has serious consequences for society. The vision of ‘might is right’ has engendered immense inequality, injustice and acts of violence against the majority of humanity, since resources end up in the hands of the first comer or the most powerful.” (82)
• “Our insistence that each human being is an image of God should not make us overlook the fact that each creature has its own purpose. None is superfluous. The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains, everything is, as it were, a caress of God.” (84)
• “When we can see God reflected in all that exists, our hearts are moved to praise the Lord for all his creatures and to worship him in union with them.” (87)
• “It is clearly inconsistent to combat trafficking, unconcerned about the poor, or undertaking to destroy another human being deemed unwanted.” (91)
• “The mindset which leaves no room for sincere concern for the environment is the same mindset which lacks concern for the inclusion of the most vulnerable members of society.” (196)
• “The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own or consume.” (204)
• “The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast.” (217, quoting Benedict XVI)

And my favorite:

“the human person grows more, matures more and is sanctified more to the extent that he or she enters into relationships, going out from themselves to love in communion with God, with others and with all creatures.” (240)