Two Encyclicals With Franciscan Ties

May 29^th was the feast day of Pope St. Paul VI, a Secular Franciscan.

There were many reasons why he was recognized as a Saint, but he is perhaps best remembered for his prophetic encyclical, Humane Vitae. The encyclical has been attacked (especially by people who never read it) and is often described as just a reiteration of the Church’s teachings against artificial methods of birth control. But the encyclical did more than prohibit. It is a wonderful exploration of marital love. And it warned about potential negative results of using birth control.  In it, the Pope predicted such use could result in: 

“Marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards.”

 [Men] may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires.”

“The danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law…. Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone.”

Sadly, we have witnessed the accuracy of those predictions

Humane Vitae is well worth reading or rereading. You can find a copy of it online here - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/Paul06/p6humana.htm

 

Another papal encyclical has been in the news recently.

The Vatican has unveiled a 7-year “action platform” to generate environmental action, as suggested by Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’.

 In a statement welcoming the Laudato Si’ Action Platform (LSAP), Pope Francis said that the earth “that hosts us suffers as a result of wounds that we cause by our predatory attitude.”

The encyclical makes wide use of Franciscan ideas, and cites St. Francis and St. Bonaventure frequently. It has often been unfairly misrepresented – as happened with Humane Vitae – but it too is well worth reading (especially before commenting on it!).

The text of it can be found online at  https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-

Pax et bonum