Week 11: Laudato Si’

In addition to a guest lecture about Catholic tradition by The Most Reverend Frederick Campbell, Bishop of Columbus, this week we will explore the recent and hugely influential encyclical letter on the environment, Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’: On Care of Our Common Home.  This document and the pope’s visit to the US in September of 2015 are credited with shifting American Catholic views on climate change by a full 10% (towards greater belief in climate change as an important issue) and with inspiring a dozen US House of Representatives members to declare that climate change is real, in contrast to their previous views.  The encyclical letter picks up on many insights and values that are shared by other faith traditions, while highlighting particular perspectives within Catholicism, the world’s largest single religious denomination.