THE P RTAL
July 2015
Page 24
Laudato si’
Geoffrey has been reading Laudato si’
When the
dust has settled after the publication of the long-heralded
encyclical Laudato si’, three things will, I think, become apparent: first,
that the climate change lobby is now so dominant that it would be impossible
for a Pope (whatever his personal convictions) to go against it; second, that this
Pope is by nature a pessimist, who majors on the bad news and down-plays the
good; and thirdly that the astute association of traditional Catholic life-values
(about abortion, contraception and sexual differentiation) with environmentalist arguments has opened up
new possibilities.
Here are two pivotal quote s from Laudato si’ which justification of abortion. How can we genuinely teach
I guarantee will not make the headlines in the secular the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings,
press:
however troublesome or inconvenient they may be,
if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its
‘Since everything is interrelated, concern for the presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties? “If
protection of nature is also incompatible with the personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance
of the new life is lost, then other forms of
acceptance that are valuable for society
also wither away.”
‘Also, valuing one’s own body in its
femininity or masculinity is necessary if
I am going to be able to recognise myself
in an encounter with someone who is
different. In this way, we can joyfully
accept the specific gifts of another man or
woman, the work of God the Creator, and
find mutual enrichment. It is not a healthy
attitude which would seek “to cancel out
sexual difference because it no longer
knows how to confront it.”
This attempt to enlist Gaia on the side of
Deus – to persuade environmentalists that
they are really closet anti-abortionists and
sexual egalitarians and that they should
be celebrating the difference - is a bold
gesture. Only time will tell whether there
is mileage in it.
My guess, for what it is worth, is that the
abortion industry and the LGBT lobby are
quite as entrenched as the global warmers.
There is no gainsaying either and the two
groups are all but identical. No amount
of clever argumentation will drive a
wedge between them. To most people
alas, however illogical it may be, saving
endangered species and destroying human
foetuses have come to seem perfectly
compatible.
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