Pope Francis on the Environment

Pope Francis’s long-anticipated encyclical on the environment and the poor was released in June 2015. It is titled Laudato Si’, a phrase meaning “be praised,” taken from Saint Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun (“Be praised, my Lord, through all Your creatures, especially through my lord Brother Sun … through Sister Moon and the stars”). The encyclical makes a moral case for addressing environmental issues, especially climate change. In this symposium, W. David Montgomery analyzes the encyclical’s economic and political implications; M. Anthony Mills asks whether Pope Francis is anti-modern; and Brendan Foht contrasts the encyclical with another major environmental statement — the recent “Ecomodernist Manifesto.”