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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2022
Ethical deliberations about care for creation require more theological clarity about God's eschatological plan for creation than presently found in church teaching. Nonetheless, we can identify in the writings of recent popes a trajectory toward what I describe as a “covenantal communion” approach. This approach holds that God's eschatological plan is to draw all creatures together in Christ and attributes to creation its own form of agential density through which it becomes, with humanity, a genuine participant in the divine economy. I set this view in contrast to two other approaches: creation as “microcosmic referent” and “humanized abode.” Though versions of these latter two appear in Vatican II documents and in the writings of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, their claims have been moderated in Francis’ move toward a covenantal communion approach. Further developing this approach will help clarify the goods and values at stake in our environmental choices.
1 Nonhuman Rights Project, “Client, Happy (Elephant),” https://www.nonhumanrights.org/client-happy/.
2 Religion News Service, “Catholic Theologians Support New York Elephant Rights Case,” February 4, 2021, https://religionnews.com/2021/02/04/catholic-theologians-support-new-york-elephant-rights-case/. I joined four others in the brief in support of Happy's release to an animal sanctuary.
3 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium (November 1, 1964), §48, https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html; emphasis added. For an overview of the discussion leading to this text's inclusion, see Pozo, Candido SJ, Theology of the Beyond, trans. Pilon, Mark A., 5th ed. (Staten Island, NY: Society of St. Paul, 2009), 481–86Google Scholar.
4 Phan, Peter C., “Roman Catholic Theology,” in Oxford Handbook of Eschatology, ed. Walls, Jerry L., Oxford Handbooks Series (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 217Google Scholar.
5 Pozo briefly comments on the council's awareness of the Marxist critique. Theology of the Beyond, 513.
6 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, §5.
7 Pope Pius X, for example, declared that his papacy had as its defining task the work of “restoring all things in Christ” (Eph 1:10), which he interpreted as “leading [human] souls to God.” Il Fermo Proposito, June 11, 1905, §1, §6, respectively, http://www.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_11061905_il-fermo-proposito.html.
8 I avoid here the complicated question of how Christian labor in the present contributes to the growth of the kingdom. My claim is only that there is a connection between life in the present age and that in the age to come.
9 Jürgen Moltmann, Ethics of Hope, trans. Margaret Kohl (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012), 9.
10 “Man is suddenly becoming aware that by an ill-considered exploitation of nature he risks destroying it and becoming in turn the victim of this degradation.” Octogesima Adveniens, May 14, 1971, §21, http://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_letters/documents/hf_p-vi_apl_19710514_octogesima-adveniens.html. “Will our civilization, tempted to increase its marvelous achievements by despotic domination of the human environment, discover in time the way to control its material growth, to use the earth's food with wise moderation, and to cultivate real poverty of spirit in order to carry out urgent and indispensable reconversions?” Paul VI, Message: Stockholm Conference, June 1, 1972, http://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/messages/pont-messages/documents/hf_p-vi_mess_19720605_conferenza-ambiente.html. The fact that environmental concerns do not even appear in Paul VI's earlier encyclical, Populorum Progressio, reflects the rapid change in environmental awareness that took place between the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Populorum Progressio focused on how creation could be made to serve humanity well and not on the environmental problems that such endeavors cause. “The whole of creation is for man,” and “he has been charged … to complete and perfect it … to his own advantage.” Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, March 26, 1967, §22, https://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum.html. The task we face is that of “building a human community where men can live truly human lives,… free from servitude to other men or to natural forces which they cannot yet control satisfactorily.” Populorum Progressio, §47.
11 See Pozo, Theology of the Beyond, 488. Pozo explores these debates at 97–130.
12 John Paul II discussed creation in a series of audiences in 1986. He had begun a reflection on the Creed in July 1985, and, on January 8, 1986, turned his attention to creation (see in particular, the audiences from April through August 1986). Reflections on creation occur in a number of other audiences, including: January 17, 2001 (where the pope commends an “ecological conversion”); January 31, 2001 (where he discusses the new heavens and new earth); February 14, 2001 (where he describes creation's “recapitulation”); and May 2, 2001 (where he discusses creation's doxological capacity). The English translations of most of his audiences can be found here: http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en.html. John Paul's numerous reflections on creation have not received anywhere near the attention that has been given to his “theology of the body” (which was also developed in a series of audiences) or to his socioeconomic critiques. However, see Peter C. Phan, “Pope John Paul II and the Ecological Crisis,” Irish Theological Quarterly 60, no. 1 (1994): 59–69. Brief discussions can also be found in D. M. Cowdin, “Toward an Environmental Ethics,” in Preserving the Creation: Environmental Theology and Ethics, ed. Kevin W. Irwin and Edmund D. Pellegrino (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1994), 112–47; and John Hart, What Are They Saying About Environmental Theology? (New York: Paulist Press, 2004), 11–18. Benedict XVI gained a reputation as the “green pope” because of his sustained critique of environmental abuse and his green practices (e.g., installing solar panels atop the Vatican's Paul VI Hall). See Jame Schaefer and Tobias Winright, eds., Environmental Justice and Climate Change: Assessing Pope Benedict XVI's Ecological Vision for the Catholic Church in the United States (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2013). The volume's essay by Jeremiah Vallery, “Pope Benedict XVI's Cosmic Soteriology and the Advancement of Catechesis on the Environment,” is particularly helpful in describing Benedict's long-standing interest in creation; 173–93. For a discussion of Ratzinger/Benedict's eschatology as it relates to nonhuman creation, see “Matter in Ratzinger's Theology of the Resurrection,” chapter 6 in Patrick J. Fletcher, Resurrection Realism: Ratzinger the Augustinian (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2014), 181–246, esp. 215–16. Francis’ commitment to the environment is amply evidenced in both his encyclical Laudato Si’, May 24, 2015, http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html, and his post-synodal exhortation Querida Amazonia, February 2, 2020, http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20200202_querida-amazonia.html.
13 John Paul II: “Indeed, nature itself, since it was subjected to the senselessness, degradation and devastation caused by sin, thus shares in the joy of the liberation achieved by Christ in the Holy Spirit,” Audience, February 14, 2001, §4, https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences/2001/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_20010214.html. “In ordering creation to the authentic well-being of humanity…, [human persons] share in the exercise of the power with which the Risen Christ draws all things to himself,” Christifideles Laici, December 3, 1988, §14, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_30121988_christifideles-laici.html. Benedict XVI: Nature “is destined to be ‘recapitulated’ in Christ at the end of time (cf. Eph 1:9-10; Col 1:19-20),” Caritas in Veritate, June 29, 2009, §48, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate.html. As we will see, Benedict associates our participation in this process of recapitulation with the Eucharist. Francis: “Human beings, endowed with intelligence and love, and drawn by the fullness of Christ, are called to lead all creatures back to their Creator,” Laudato Si’, §83.
14 John Paul II: Humanity is “at the summit of God's creative activity, as its crown … the most perfect of creatures. Everything in creation is ordered to man and everything is made subject to him,” Evangelium Vitae, March 25, 1995, §34, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae.html. Benedict XVI: “Human beings, obviously, are of supreme worth vis-à-vis creation as a whole,” Message: World Day of Peace, January 1, 2008, §7, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20071208_xli-world-day-peace.html. Francis: “This is not to put all living beings on the same level nor to deprive human beings of their unique worth…. At times we see an obsession with denying any pre-eminence to the human person,” Laudato Si’, §90. Vatican II's inflated assertion on this topic reflects the spirit of the time: “According to the almost unanimous opinion of believers and unbelievers alike, all things on earth should be related to man as their center and crown.” Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, December 7, 1965, §12, http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html.
15 John Paul II: “Human beings are set at the centre of creation as stewards of the Creator,” Pastores Gregis, October 16, 2003, §70 http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_20031016_pastores-gregis.html. Benedict XVI: “We are called, rather, to exercise responsible stewardship of creation, in order to protect it, to enjoy its fruits, and to cultivate it,” Audience, August 26, 2009, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090826.html. Francis: “Now is the time to rediscover our vocation as children of God, brothers and sisters, and stewards of creation,” Message: World Day of Prayer for Creation, September 1, 2019, http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/pont-messages/2019/documents/papa-francesco_20190901_messaggio-giornata-cura-creato.html.
16 John Paul II: “But at the same time man must remain subject to the will of God, who imposes limits upon his use and dominion over things (cf. Gen 2:16-17),” Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, December 30, 1987, §29, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_30121987_sollicitudo-rei-socialis.html. Benedict XVI: “The natural environment is more than raw material to be manipulated at our pleasure; it is a wondrous work of the Creator,” Caritas in Veritate, §48. Francis: “We are not God,” Laudato Si’, §67.
17 John Paul II: “If in his Providence God had given the earth to humanity, that meant that he had given it to everyone. Therefore the riches of Creation were to be considered as a common good of the whole of humanity,” Tertio Millennnio Adveniente, November 10, 1994, §13, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1994/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19941110_tertio-millennio-adveniente.html; emphasis in the original. Benedict XVI: “The goods of creation belong to humanity as a whole,” Message: World Day of Peace, January 1, 2010, §7, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20091208_xliii-world-day-peace.html. Francis: “The gift of the earth with its fruits belongs to everyone,” Laudato Si’, §71.
18 An added difficulty in interpreting Pope Benedict's writings is the question of what authority to give his writings penned before his elevation to the papacy (or, in the case of some writings, as pope). I appeal to them because they provide a helpful heuristic tool for understanding the theology of creation expressed in his magisterial writings.
19 For a very helpful overview of the interpretive history and contemporary views of this passage, see Hunt, Cheryl et al. , “An Environmental Mantra? Ecological Interest in Romans 8:19-23 and a Modest Proposal for Its Narrative Interpretation,” Journal of Theological Studies 59, no. 2 (2008): 546–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
20 Besides papal teachings in the postconciliar period, references to the Romans 8 passage appear in the statement by the Australian Bishops’ Committee for Justice, Development and Peace, “Christians and Their Duties Towards Nature,” in “And God Saw That It Was Good”: Catholic Theology and the Environment, ed. Drew Christiansen, SJ, and Walter Grazer (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 1996), 246; the Dominican Episcopal Conference's “Pastoral Letter on the Relationship of Human Beings to Nature,” in And God Saw That It Was Good, 268; the Guatemalan Bishops’ Conference statement “The Cry for the Land,” in And God Saw That It Was Good, 285; the statement by the Commission for Social Affairs of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Our Relationship with the Environment: The Need for Conversion,” 4, https://www.cccb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/enviro_eng.pdf; the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ letter, “Renewing the Earth,” §II.B, http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/environment/renewing-the-earth.cfm; the declaration sponsored by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, “Towards Responsible Stewardship of Creation: An Asian Christian Approach,” 43, http://www.fabc.org/offices/otc/Towards%20Responsible%20Stewardship%20of%20Creation.pdf; and the statement by the Conferencia Episcopal Boliviana, “El Universo, Don de Dios para La Vida: Carta Pastoral sobre Medio Ambiente y Desarrolla Humano en Bolivia,” §53, https://www.comboni.org/app-data/files/allegati/756.pdf.
21 Human sin “in some way has affected the whole of creation,” Dominum et Vivificantem, May 18, 1986, §39, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_18051986_dominum-et-vivificantem.html. All of creation waits “in a mysterious way to be set free,” Message: World Day of Peace, January 1, 1990, §3, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_19891208_xxiii-world-day-for-peace.html.
22 The Incarnation signifies, “in a sense,” God's unity with “the entire visible and material world,” Dominum et Vivificantem, §50. “Redemption includes all humanity and in a certain way all of creation,” Dominum et Vivificantem, §64. In the human person, “in a certain sense,” the world is fulfilled; Audience, May 28, 1986, §6, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/it/audiences/1986/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_19860528.html; translation my own. The renewal of the Holy Spirit “will to some extent involve the whole cosmos,” and “the cosmos is also called, in a mysterious but real way, to participate in this newness of life,” Audience, August 19, 1998, §2 and §4, respectively, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences/1998/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_19081998.html. God's salvific gift of himself is directed “in some way to all creation,” Redemptoris Mater, March 4, 1979, §9, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.html.
23 The whole world “in a certain sense has been created anew,” Homily, June 12, 1999, §4, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19990612_zamosc.html. Eschatology is, “in a certain sense, cosmic,” Crossing the Threshold of Hope, ed. Vittorio Messori (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994), 183; emphasis in the original.
24 For a history of the influence of the microcosm tradition, see Allers, Rudolf, “Microcosmus: From Anaximandros to Paracelsus,” Traditio: Studies in Ancient and Medieval History, Thought, and Religion 2 (1944): 319–407CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
25 Maximus the Confessor, On the Difficulties in the Church Fathers: The Ambigua, ed. and trans. Nicholas Constas, vol. 2 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014), 113–15; emphasis in original. Paul Blower describes Maximus’ view of redemption: it “is a cosmic process because … all creatures, through the generous radiation of divine illumination, are being ‘recalled’ and ‘uplifted’ proportionately to an archetypal perfection that is nonetheless eschatological and only partially realized here below.” Paul M. Blower, Maximus the Confessor: Jesus Christ and the Transfiguration of the World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 180; emphasis in the original. See also Hiuser, Kris, “Maximizing Animal Theology: Maximus the Confessor on the Value of Non-Human Animals and the Human Calling,” Toronto Journal of Theology 30, no. 2 (2014): 247–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Convergences exist between what I am calling a “microcosmic referent” approach and what is known as “deep incarnationalism.” Space does not permit me to explore these connections, but see Niels Henrik Gregersen, ed., Incarnation: On the Scope and Depth of Christology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015).
26 Karl Rahner, On the Theology of Death (New York: Herder & Herder, 1961), 37. The “history of the cosmos as a whole will find its real consummation despite, in and through the freedom of man.” Rahner, “Christology within an Evolutionary View of the World,” in Theological Investigations, vol. 5, Later Writings, trans. Karl Kruger (Baltimore: Helicon Press, 1966), 157–92, 168.
27 For a more sympathetic reading of Rahner on this point, see Cho, Hyun-Chul SJ, “Interconnectedness and Intrinsic Value as Ecological Principles: An Appropriation of Karl Rahner's Evolutionary Christology,” Theological Studies 70, no. 3 (2009): 622–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
28 Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, §14.
29 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, §48, referencing Ephesians 1:10. For a more detailed analysis of Vatican II's texts on creation and eschatology, see O'Halloran, Nathan W., “‘Each Creature, Resplendently Transfigured’: Development of Teaching in Laudato Si’,” Theological Studies 79, no. 2 (2018): 379–91Google Scholar.
30 John Paul II, Redemptionis Donum, March 25, 1984, §14, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_25031984_redemptionis-donum.html.
31 John Paul, II, Dominum et Vivificantem, §50.
32 Consider, for example, this passage from his book on eschatology: “The anima, as we have seen, belongs completely to the material world, yet also goes beyond this world in going beyond itself. It is in that movement that the material world, indeed, comes into its own, by stretching forth towards God in man.” Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life, ed. Adian Nichols, OP, trans. Michael Waldstein, 2nd ed. with Preface by Peter Casarella (Washington, DC: Catholic University Press, 1988), 153. The concept of the material world coming into its own through the “stretching” of the human soul is fundamental to a microcosmic referent approach.
33 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000), 27.
34 Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, 101.
35 Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, 70.
36 Benedict XVI, Homily, June 15, 2006, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20060615_corpus-christi.html.
37 Benedict XVI, Audience, June 25, 2008, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080625.html.
38 Benedict XVI, Homily, Friday, July 24, 2009, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20090724_vespri-aosta.html.
39 Ratzinger, Eschatology, 237–38. Though it is not a dominant theme in their thoughts, John Paul II and Francis also connect creation's fulfillment and the liturgy. The Eucharist has a “cosmic character”; it “unites heaven and earth” and “embraces and permeates all creation.” John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, April 17, 2003, §8, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/special_features/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_20030417_ecclesia_eucharistia_en.html. “In the Eucharist,… the whole cosmos gives thanks to God. Indeed, the Eucharist is itself an act of cosmic love.” Francis, Laudato Si’, §236. Francis goes on to cite the preceding passage from John Paul II's Ecclesia de Eucharistia.
40 For a contrasting view, however, see Fletcher, Resurrection Realism, 215–16. He cites a number of texts from untranslated writings showing Ratzinger's support for the view that the world would be saved. However, the salvific hope expressed in these texts does not, at least not explicitly, include individual creatures, but only the world considered in its entirety.
41 The one possible exception to this is Eucharistic Prayer IV, which is based on Eastern patristic sources.
42 Benedict XVI was interpreted as rejecting the possibility of animal restoration when, in a homily, he contrasted the eternal destiny of the human person with the destiny of nonhuman creatures for whom “death means solely the end of existence on earth.” See Benedict XVI, Homily, January 13, 2008, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20080113_battesimo.html. However, support for a more nonhuman-inclusive soteriology, even if anthropocentric, is suggested in a set of reflections published in 1985: “To man belongs not only his fellow-man; to man belongs also the ‘world.’ Hence, if man as such and as a whole is to be brought into salvation, then the delightful mystery of things must also be preserved for him; all the instruments that God has created must join in, as it were, to the symphony of joy if there is to be full harmony.” Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Dogma and Preaching: Applying Christian Doctrine to Daily Life, ed. Michael J. Miller, trans. Michael J. Miller and Matthew J. O'Connell (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012), 269.
43 Ratzinger, Eschatology, 194.
44 Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, 182.
45 Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi, November 30, 2007, §28, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi.html.
46 Aquinas believed that our glorified bodies would be composed of the four elements (earth, air, water, and fire). Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans, ed. Fabian R. Larcher, John Mortensen, and Enrique Alarcón (Lander, WY: Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine, 2012), 221.
47 Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, §57; emphasis added.
48 John Paul II, Audience, June 18, 1986, §4, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/it/audiences/1986/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_19860618.html; translation my own.
49 John Paul II, Audience, August 19, 1998, §1, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences/1998/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_19081998.html. See Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, §2.
50 “Duties toward the environment derive from those toward the person considered in itself and in relation to others,” Benedict XVI, Message: World Day of Peace, January 1, 2010, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20091208_xliii-world-day-peace.html.
51 Human persons “are meant to be ‘co-creators’ with God, using their knowledge and skill to shape a cosmos in which the divine plan constantly moves towards fulfilment.” See John Paul II, Speech: Pontifical Academy of Sciences, November 8, 2004, §2, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/2004/november/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20041108_academy-sciences.html. God “desires to guide the world—not only the world of nature but also the world of human persons—through man himself.” See John Paul, II, Veritatis Splendor, August 6, 1993, §43, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor.html.
52 His critique of liberation theology, penned while he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reflects this concern. See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Instruction on Certain Aspects of the ‘Theology of Liberation,’” August 6, 1984, https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19840806_theology-liberation_en.html.
53 We can see this temporal and anthropocentric reading of stewardship in his praise of monastic agriculture as a model of stewardship: “Creation prospered around monasteries.” See Benedict XVI, Homily, June 3, 2006, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20060603_veglia-pentecoste.html.
54 Willis Jenkins believes that giving creation a “voice” has implications for human dignity and environmental rights. See his “The Mysterious Silence of Mother Earth in Laudato Si’,” Journal of Religious Ethics 46, no. 3 (2018): 441–62.
55 Francis, Laudato Si’, §1.
56 John Paul II, Angelus, June 20, 1993, §1, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/it/angelus/1993/documents/hf_jp-ii_ang_19930620.html.
57 Francis, Laudato Si’, §233.
58 Francis, Laudato Si’, §11.
59 Benedict XVI, Audience: Maximus the Confessor, June 25, 2008, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20080625.html.
60 John Paul II, Audience, March 12, 1986, §5, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/it/audiences/1986/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_19860312.html; translation my own.
61 John Paul II, Audience, January 9, 2002, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences/2002/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_20020109.html.
62 “If we enter into communion with the forest, our voices will easily blend with its own and become a prayer,” Francis, Querida Amazonia, §56.
63 Francis, Laudato Si’, §83.
64 John Paul II, Audience, January 17, 2001, §1, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences/2001/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_20010117.html.
65 John Paul II, Reconciliation and Penance, December, 2, 1984, §8, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_02121984_reconciliatio-et-paenitentia.html.
66 Benedict XVI, Homily, April 23, 2011, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20110423_veglia-pasquale.html.
67 Benedict XVI, Message: World Day of Peace, January 1, 2008, §7, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20071208_xli-world-day-peace.html. Other places where Benedict appeals to a covenant between humanity and the environment include: Audience, August 26, 2009, http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090826.html; Message: World Day of Peace, January 1, 2010, at §1 and §10; and Caritas in Veritate, at §50 and §69.
68 See, for example, Francis, Laudato Si’, §16, §42, §70, §76, §91, §117, §120, §137, and §138.
69 On the theme of relationality, see Celia Deane-Drummond, “A New Anthropology? Laudato Si’ and the Question of Interconnectedness,” in Laudato Si’ and the Environment: Pope Francis’ Green Encyclical, ed. Robert McKim (New York: Routledge, 2020), 189–201.
70 Francis, Laudato Si’, §240.
71 Francis, Laudato Si’, §43.
72 Francis, Laudato Si’, §89.
73 Francis, Querida Amazonia, §73.
74 Francis, Laudato Si’, §76.
75 Francis, Laudato Si’, §77.
76 Francis, Laudato Si’, §84.
77 Francis, Laudato Si’, §86.
78 Francis, Laudato Si’, §243.
79 Nonetheless, some scholars argue that we can attribute a form of moral agency to some animals. See, for example, Celia Deane-Drummond, “Are Animals Moral? Taking Soundings through Vice, Virtue, Conscience, and Imago Dei,” in Creaturely Theology: On God, Humans, and Other Animals, ed. David Clough and Celia Deane-Drummond (London: SCM Press, 2009), 190–210.
80 Francis, Laudato Si’, §89.
81 John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, May 1, 1991, §38, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_01051991_centesimus-annus.html; emphasis in the original.
82 Benedict XVI, World Day of Peace, January 1, 2007, §8. He goes on to say: “Experience shows that disregard for the environment always harms human coexistence, and vice versa. It becomes more and more evident that there is an inseparable link between peace with creation and peace among men.”
83 Francis, Laudato Si’, §140.
84 Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, §48; emphasis in the original.
85 Francis, Laudato Si’, §221.
86 See, for example, the anthropocentric approach of Peter F. Ryan, SJ. He argues that one should first take into account concerns like how development might impact the entire system, whether or how it is sustainable, and how it will “affect the quality of people's lives.” After taking these steps, however, if “one rightly judges that nature should be disturbed to meet human needs, then far from violating the inherent value of subpersonal reality, such use fulfills nature by humanizing and personalizing it, while also fulfilling human persons.” Peter F. Ryan, SJ, “Secularist and Christian Views of Human Nature and Its Fulfillment: Implications for Bioethics and Environmentalism,” in Human Nature in Its Wholeness: A Roman Catholic Perspective, ed. Daniel N. Robinson, Gladys M. Sweeney, and Richard Gill, LC (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2006), 57–79, 75.
87 Willis Jenkins makes a Thomistic argument for environmental care based on the idea that “creation is a gift to us not because of its use-value for our projects, but because it reveals God.” Jenkins, Willis, “Biodiversity and Salvation: Thomistic Roots for Environmental Ethics,” Journal of Religion 83 (July 2003): 401–420, 408CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
88 Francis, Laudato Si’, §100. Alister E. McGrath examines the essential role that the “Christian imaginarium” has for a theology of nature in his Re-Imagining Nature: The Promise of Christian Natural Theology (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 2017).
89 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, §57.
90 Francis, Laudato Si’, §91.
91 Christopher J. Thompson, The Joyful Mystery (Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Road Publishing, 2017), 93.
92 Benedict, Caritas in Veritate, §51. Francis refers to Benedict's views here, arguing for the need “to accept our body … and to respect its fullest meaning.” Laudato Si’, §155. Similarly, see in Thompson, Joyful Mystery, page 137: “The defense of the organic ordering of things, whether in the human body or other bodies, provides the extraordinary occasion to unite in common cause … those who promote organic practices in the garden bed, [and] those who promote organic practices in the marriage bed.” Nathan O'Halloran argues that “without such a fundamental sexual ecology there can be no adequate anthropology, and without an adequate anthropology there can be no true environmental ecology.” Nathan W. O'Halloran, “The Scotus Ruling and the Integral Ecology of Laudato Si’,” First Things, July 14, 2015, https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2015/07/the-scotus-ruling-and-the-integral-ecology-of-laudato-si. David L. Schindler also draws together sexual and environmental ethics in The Generosity of Creation (Washington, DC: Humanum Academic Press, 2018). Maura Ryan, in contrast, critically examines Benedict's “pro-life environmentalism” in “A New Shade of Green? Nature, Freedom, and Sexual Difference in Caritas in Veritate,” Theological Studies 71, no. 2 (2010): 335–49.
93 Hanvey, James, “Laudato Si’ and the Renewal of Theologies of Creation,” Heythrop Journal 59 (2018): 1022–35CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 1022 and 1027, respectively. In contrast, see the argument by Steven C. van den Heuvel, who holds that the inclusion of nonhuman creation in the salvific narrative diminishes the tradition's commitment to anthropocentrism. “The Theocentric Perspective of Laudato Si’: A Critical Discussion,” Philosophia Reformata 83 (2018): 51–67, esp. 56–58.
94 Deane-Drummond, Celia, “Laudato Si’ and the Natural Sciences: An Assessment of Possibilities and Limits,” Theological Studies 77, no. 2 (June 2016): 392–415CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Edwards, Denis, “‘Sublime Communion’: The Theology of the Natural World in Laudato Si’,” Theological Studies 77, no. 2 (June 2016): 377–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
95 Francis, Laudato Si’, §100.
96 I have argued elsewhere that Scripture and the early Christian tradition provide ample support for the hope that animals will be included in God's redemptive plan. See Christopher Steck, SJ, All God's Animals: A Catholic Theological Framework for Animal Ethics (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2019), 95–132.
97 Claus Westermann, Genesis 1–11: A Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1984), 473.
98 On the importance of the covenant in Paul's writings, see Stegman, Thomas D., “‘Run That You May Obtain the Prize’: Using St. Paul as a Resource for the Spiritual Exercises,” Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits 44, no. 4 (Winter 2012): 1–43Google Scholar. For a more extensive review of the biblical support for the inclusion of nonhuman creatures, see Steck, All God's Animals, 78–81 and 101–04.
99 Irenaeus, St. Irenaeus of Lyons against Heresies: The Complete English Translation from the First Volume of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (South Bend, IN: Ex Fontibus, 2010), 443. Similarly, Ephrem the Syrian describes God's renewal of creation as one of “liberating all creatures, / granting them paschal joy, along with us.” See Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on Paradise, trans. Sebastian P. Brock (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1990), 136. John Chrysostom argues that creation will share in humanity's glorification in Christ just as it shared in humanity's corruption. See John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans, vol. 11, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd ed., ed. Philip Schaff (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 445.
100 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, §3.
101 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, §13.
102 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, §48. Based on biblical and early Christian testimony, the ecclesiologist Jean-Marie Tillard argues that the “two aspects” of the church—the kingdom and the people of God—“are inseparable”: “the People are marching towards a Kingdom, and the Kingdom is the good of a People.” See Jean-Marie Tillard, Church of Churches: The Ecclesiology of Communion, trans. R. C. De Peaux (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992), 83. See also Dennis Doyle, Communion Ecclesiology: Visions and Versions (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000), 72–75.
103 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, §89 and §92, respectively. A number of ecotheologians also appeal to the importance of communion for understanding God's ultimate plan for creation. Consider, for example, the “kinship” model in Elizabeth A. Johnson, Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love (London: Bloomsbury, 2014); and Daniel P. Horan, All God's Creatures: A Theology of Creation (Lanham, MD: Fortress Academic, 2018). Kohlhaas and McLaughlin argue that “relatiocentrism,” rather than anthropocentrism, better describes the focus of divine concern as Francis understands it in Laudato Si’. See Kohlhaas, Jacob M. and McLaughlin, Ryan Patrick, “Loving the World We Are: Anthropology and Relationality in Laudato Si’,” Journal of Religious Ethics 47, no. 3 (2019): 501–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 502.
104 “Sin, sorrow, and injustice mar the world's well-being. Therefore, the kabod YHWH, never directly perceived, is also manifest in and through historical events of peace-making and liberation.” See Elizabeth Johnson, “Heaven and Earth Are Filled with Your Glory,” in Finding God in All Things: Essays in Honor of Michael J. Buckley, SJ, ed. Michael J. Himes and Stephen Pope (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1996), 89. “The vision of the natural world as a sacrament of the glory of God motivates contemplative persons to extend this justice model to embrace the whole earth.” See Johnson, Finding God in All Things, 94.
105 Chryssavgis, John, Creation as Sacrament: Reflections on Ecology and Spirituality (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019), 97CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
106 Chryssavigis, Creation as Sacrament, 96.
107 For example, in an interpretation of Romans 8 that aligns more with the eschatology of Pius X than that of Francis, the priest blogger Monsignor Charles Pope states that the liberation for which creation yearns will occur when “the work of summoning souls is completed.” See Charles Pope, “Don't Be Tempted by False Gardens—We Preach Christ Crucified,” National Catholic Register, July 30, 2019, https://www.ncregister.com/blog/msgr-pope/shangri-la.
108 Charles Camosy identifies an inconsistency here. “The tradition has been quite clear in giving specific moral guidance with respect to actions which clearly contradict the fundamental dignity of human beings. It is high time similar guidance is given with respect to actions which clearly contradict the fundamental dignity of nonhuman animals.” See Charles Camosy, “Locating Laudato Si’ along a Trajectory of Concern for Nonhuman Animals,” in Integral Ecology for a More Sustainable World: Dialogues with Laudato Si’, ed. Dennis O'Hara, Matthew Eaton, and Michael T. Ross (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019), 171.
109 Francis, Laudato Si’, §80.
110 John Paul II, Address, October 23, 1982, §4, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1982/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19821023_pont-accademia-scienze.html.
111 For a discussion of some of the ethical concerns posed by interventions in human physiology, see Vicini, Andrea SJ and Brazal, Agnes M., “Longing for Transcendence: Cyborgs and Trans- and Posthumans,” Theological Studies 76, no. 1 (2015): 148–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
112 John Paul II, Tertio Millennio Adveniente, §46; emphasis in the original. A form of environmental interventionism, based on patristic sources, is defended in McLaughlin, Ryan Patrick, “Evidencing the Eschaton: Progressive-Transformative Animal Welfare in the Church Fathers,” Modern Theology 27, no. 1 (2011): 121–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
113 Francis, Laudato Si’, §5.
114 Francis, Laudato Si’, §131.
115 Francis, Laudato Si’, §132. He cites John Paul II, Address: World Medical Association, October 29, 1983, §6, https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1983/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19831029_ass-medica-mondiale.html. There is a discrepancy on the Vatican website between the English translation of John Paul II's address and the citing of it in Laudato Si’. The Italian version of the cited text as it appears in the original address reads: “per aiutarla a svilupparsi secondo la sua essenza, quella della creazione, quella voluta da Dio.” The text is translated into English as, “to favour its development in its own life, that of the creation, that intended by God,” whereas in Laudato Si’, it is translated as, “to favour its development in its own line, that of creation, as intended by God”; emphasis added to both texts. I use the phrase “according to its essence” to circumvent the discrepancy and follow closely the original text.
116 Haught, John, Resting on the Future: Catholic Theology for an Unfinished Universe (New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015), 169Google Scholar. He offers this as one of three norms for transhumanist projects. The other two are “the intensification of vitality” and the endeavor “to sustain or increase the world's capacity for creativity.” See Haught, Resting on the Future, 166 and 170, respectively; emphasis in the original.
117 John Paul II, Message: World Day of Peace, January 1, 1999, §10, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_14121998_xxxii-world-day-for-peace.html.
118 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, §48.
119 Francis, Laudato Si’, §83.
120 Francis, Laudato Si’, §246.