THIS YEAR, WE celebrated the 10th anniversary of “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis’ papal encyclical on the climate crisis. It came at a moment of ascendant hope—the Paris climate talks were just weeks away—and it added immeasurably to that hope: The most recognizable person on planet Earth was using his unique voice not just to offer politician-scale bromides about global warming but to issue a remarkable, deep, and unsparing critique of modernity as it had led us to this pass and a deep and loving vision of where we might still go.
A decade on, much has changed, mostly not for the better. Now the most famous person on the planet is doubtless Donald Trump—and he’s famed for being a vile and evil man, implicated in rape and assault in his own life and complicit in it around the country and the world. That he is supported in this ugliness by a rock-solid bloc of evangelicals brings shame to the Christian witness—shame to the name of Christ.
It’s a good time to revisit just a few of Francis’ words (which seem to be echoed by his successor, Leo), if only to remind our-selves that our species and our faith are capable of moral witness and human goodness. So:
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