An encyclical to ward off hurricanes?

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Oct 06, 2022

Earlier this week, on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, I saw a secular-media headline announcing that the Church would be celebrating the memory of the “ecology saint.”

Now I hear, from Cardinal Michael Czerny, that Catholics—you know, those of us who celebrate the “ecology saint”—can no longer tolerate questions about the role of human action in causing climate change. “The time is over for speculation, for skepticism and denial, for irresponsible populism,” Cardinal Czerny said. Notice, here, how quickly skepticism—which was once recognized as a hallmark of scientific rigor—is now dismissed as “irresponsible populism.”

As I recall, Galileo was skeptical about the prevalent understanding the earth’s place in the solar system. The Vatican’s bid to quiet that skepticism did not turn out well, did it? So why are Vatican officials today so intent on asserting their authority in a scientific debate?

A debate that has become highly politicized, by the way—yet another reason why prudent Church leaders would tread carefully. The Reuters story carrying that quote from Cardinal Czerny provides a vivid illustration of the way this argument is being framed:

At the time that the papal encyclical was issued, some conservative Catholics allied with conservative political movements and corporate interests criticised the pope for backing the opinion of a majority of scientists who said global warming was at least partly due to human activity.

It isn’t enough, apparently, to dismiss the Pope’s critics as “conservative Catholics;“ the reporter feels obliged to add that these conservative Catholics are “allied with conservative political movements.” (Isn’t that what you’d expect? Conservatives are not likely to be allied with liberal movements. But repeating the adjective drives home the point.) And there’s more; these conservative Catholics are also allied with “corporate interests.” So there’s an unsubtle hint that they have been bought off; that they are serving the cause of corporate Mammon. And then, to settle the matter, Reuters cites “the opinion of a majority of scientists.” So if scientific theories are proven by majority vote, I suppose skepticism really is irresponsible.

If I understand Cardinal Czerny correctly, he believes that we might be able to avoid future hurricanes if we followed the guidance of Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si’. Sorry, but I’m skeptical. Call me irresponsible.