Massimo Borghesi
The encyclical Laudato si’. On Care of Our Common Home was published in 2015. Similarly to what happened with the apostolic exhortation of 2013, Evangelii Gaudium, this encyclical has sparked a public debate. The objections and criticism followed two main directions. The first is that of those who think the document represents the Pope venturing into an unknown territory, a territory where he is not an expert, discussing a field – the ecology – which should not be a concern of theology. For those critics, the papal document is a tactical operation, prompted by the convenience of riding the “green wave” of the moment. Clearly, this type of criticism comes from the religious conservatives who think enviromental issues and ecology are a subject of today’s progressism. For the conservatives, the Roman Pontiff is more concerned with the caring of plants and seas and is not as focused on the Church and on the evengelization of people. The Pope, in their opinion, is more concerned about the world than about Christ.
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