The development and environmental organization Germanwatch has paid tribute to Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato si". The organization presented a background paper on the relevance of the encyclical in Bonn on Friday.
Last summer's letter was an "exciting provocation," provoking a global debate about the link between poverty and ecology, the organization's paper said.
Germanwatch hopes for another "debate that does not allow itself to be blinded by the prevailing economic-technocratic discourse," said Political Director Christoph Bals, who authored the paper. At the same time, he acknowledged that it is not often that Germanwatch deals in detail with church documents.
"Old familiar problems in a new light"
The encyclical combines theological, scientific and political dimensions of the environmental ie, Germanwatch said. At the same time, they urge people to "read and evaluate scientific results with the intelligence of the heart – and, on the basis of this evaluation, to change their own lifestyle as well as to intervene together in politics."This opens up the possibility of looking at long-known environmental and development problems in a new light.
Both interfaith and dialogue with the secular environmental movement can build on the encyclical, the background paper says. "Laudato si" challenges decision-makers in politics and business to "get serious" about environmental and development ies, concludes Germanwatch. The encyclical has a "blind spot" with regard to the role of women, homosexuals and transsexuals, writes Bals.