Faith and Reason, and Laudatio Si-Part III

       In one of his most controversial paragraphs, Pope Francis writes, "A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system...even if a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon."

        It's necessary to pause right there for a moment. The Pope stated, "a scientifically determinable cause" for every particular instance of identifiable climate change cannot be determined. Therefore, it would be erroneous to argue that Pope Francis is endorsing every proposed political solution to perceived climate change. Pope Francis does clearly say that humanity is "called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it." (No. 23, emphasis added) 

        But rather than taking sides in a politically partisan debate, Francis is commenting on fundemental moral principle in a manner consistent with the principles spelled out by Pope Saint John Paul II, in Fides et Ratio. (See for example LS no. 63) In that 1988 encyclical, JPII acknowledged the Church's imperfect history vis-a-vis faith and reason. However, he concurred with a statement attributed to Galileo Galilei, that the dual truths of faith and reason cannot contradict each other. JP II also observed that Vatican II says the same thing, even adopting similar language in its teaching: 'Methodical research, in all realms of knowledge, if it respects... moral norms, will never be genuinely opposed to faith: the reality of the world and of faith have their origin in the same God' (Gaudium et Spes, 36).

       Francis is adopting a very JPII approach by taking seriously what the preponderance of scientists are saying. Although, he does not endorse any specific partisan political agenda. Rather, he adds that Faith can provide the necessary integrating lens through which scientific data can be understood. As Francis notes: "It follows that the fragmentation of knowledge and the isolation of bits of information can actually become a form of ignorance, unless they are integrated into a broader vision of reality." (No. 138) 

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