Holy Week is an opportune time to reflect upon papal encyclicals that offer profound guidance relevant in these challenging times as the timeless wisdom found in social teachings of the Catholic Church resonates with greater urgency.
The encyclicals contain rich insights on pressing global issues, why there are wars and social unrest, why people ought to strive for a better world in which genuine development of individuals and communities would lead to true and lasting peace.
The Church teachings – from the 1891 Rerum Novarum (RN) encyclical by Pope Leo XIII tackling issues of faith and morals, to Pope Francis’ Laudato Si in 2015 which dwells on “immense technological development” amid lack of corresponding development in “human responsibility, values and conscience” – can be quite interesting.
In between the two are the Sollicitudo Rei Socialis written in 1987 by Pope John Paul II, and the 1967 Populorum Progressio of Pope Paul VI. The encyclicals, or authoritative letters of Popes, stand as enduring testaments to the unwavering commitment of the Church to the pursuit of human dignity, solidarity, and social justice.
The groundbreaking encyclical of 1891 affirms that “Christian morality, when adequately and completely practiced, leads of itself to temporal prosperity, for it merits the blessing of that God who is the source of all blessings; it powerfully restrains the greed of possession and the thirst for pleasure… (RN 28)”
The encyclical of Pope Francis denounces a “throwaway culture” that’s making our planet “look more and more like an immense pile of filth” with non-biodegradable and toxic wastes.
“It is hard for us to accept that the way natural ecosystems work is exemplary: plants synthesize nutrients which feed herbivores; these in turn become food for carnivores, which produce significant quantities of organic waste which give rise to new generations of plants,” he said.
“But our industrial system, at the end of its cycle of production and consumption, has not developed the capacity to absorb and reuse waste and by-products. We have not yet managed to adopt a circular model of production capable of preserving resources for present and future generations, while limiting as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderating their consumption, maximizing their efficient use, reusing and recycling them,” he explained.
The Laudato Si also points to the injustice of environmental degradation and climate change falling most heavily on the poor: “The depletion of fishing reserves especially hurts small fishing communities… water pollution particularly affects the poor who cannot buy bottled water… and rises in sea level mainly affect impoverished coastal populations who have nowhere else to go.”
The messages of the other two great encyclicals are captured in the lyrics of an enduring local hymn: “Walang sinuman ang nabubuhay / para sa sarili lamang… Tayong lahat ay may pananagutan sa isa’t-isa…”
The stirring lyrics of “Pananagutan” by the late Fr. Eduardo Hontiveros, considered the greatest Filipino Jesuit composer behind many popular liturgical hymns that Catholic churchgoers know by heart, are clear: We are all obligated to help each other.
In such a simple yet deeply moving hymn, the innovative songwriter known as “Fr. Honti” grasped the main essence of the 20,266-word encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (The Social Concerns of the Church), as well as the 11,788-word Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples) or PP.
“The hungry nations of the world cry out to the peoples blessed with abundance. And the Church, cut to the quick by this cry, asks each and every man to hear his brother’s plea and answer it lovingly (PP3),” implored Pope Paul VI in an appeal to conscience.
“No one may appropriate surplus goods solely for his own private use when others lack the bare necessities of life,” PP (23) said. “Genuine progress does not consist in wealth sought for personal comfort or for its own sake; rather it consists in an economic order designed for the welfare of the human person, where the daily bread that each man receives reflects the glow of brotherly love and the helping hand of God (PP 86).”
As he paid tribute to the PP encyclical, Pope John Paul II lamented that the world continues to face a “serious problem of unequal distribution of the means of subsistence originally meant for everybody.”
The pope who became saint pointed out: “Though it be with sorrow, it must be said that just as one may sin through selfishness and the desire for excessive profit and power, one may also be found wanting with regard to the urgent needs of multitudes of human beings submerged in conditions of underdevelopment, through fear, indecision and, basically, through cowardice (SRS 47).”
The papal encyclicals offer profound guidance for our troubled world. As we reflect on Christ and His teachings this Holy Week, browsing through the encyclicals online would enlighten us further and illuminate the moral path forward.
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