Hill Heat

The First Law of Climate Policy: Global warming won’t stop until we stop burning fossil fuels.

Presidents Barack Obama and Dilma Rousseff commit to intensify collaboration between the United States and Brazil, both bilaterally and under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as our countries work to address the challenges posed by climate change. The global scientific community has made clear that human activity is already changing the world’s climate system, causing serious impacts, putting ever larger numbers of people at risk, posing challenges to sustainable development, affecting particularly the poor and most vulnerable, and harming economies and societies around the world, including in the United States and Brazil.

Leading Together Towards Paris:

The two Presidents reiterated their call for a successful outcome later this year at the Paris Climate Change Conference. The Paris outcome should send a strong signal to the international community that governments, businesses and civil society are decisively taking on the climate challenge.

The Presidents expressed their commitment to work with each other and with other partners to resolve potential obstacles towards an ambitious and balanced Paris Agreement. Mindful of the long-term goal of limiting global temperature increase to a maximum of 2°C above preindustrial levels, they agreed that there should be strong nationally determined contributions, regular updating by Parties in order to promote greater ambition over time, and encouragement of longer-term strategies for transitioning to low-carbon economies. There should also be strong and credible transparency, including reporting and review, as well as periodic stocktaking of its overall effectiveness. The Presidents are committed to reaching an ambitious agreement that reflects the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in light of different national circumstances.

The Presidents recognize the social and economic value of mitigation actions and their co-benefits to adaptation, health and sustainable development. The Presidents pledged to work together toward mobilizing public funding and developing financial instruments to catalyze large-scale private investments to support low carbon development projects and countries’ transitions to low-carbon economies. Further, the Presidents affirmed the need for continued, robust financial support to help realize developing countries’ mitigation potential and to enhance their adaptation actions.

The official English version of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’s ecological encyclical, is now available for download.

The encyclical concludes with these two prayers.

A prayer for our earth
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe
and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace.

The leaked draft of “Laudato Si’”, Pope Francis’ widely anticipated encyclical on the crisis of climate change and other global environmental concerns, contains 246 numbered paragraphs contained within a preface and six chapters. The translation below from the original Italian is very rough, a Google translation amended by Brad Johnson.

ENCYCLICAL: PRAISED BE

Table of Contents

• Praised be, my Lord [1-2]

• • CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR HOME [17-19]
    1. Pollution and climate change
       • Pollution, refuse, and culture of waste [20-22]
       • The climate as a common good [23-26]
    2. The water issue [27-31]
    3. Biodiversity loss [32-42]
    4. Deterioration in the quality of human life and social degradation [43-47]
    5. Planetary inequities [48-52]
    6. The weakness of the reactions [53-59]
    7. Diversity of opinions [60-61]
  • CHAPTER TWO: THE GOSPEL OF CREATION [62]
    1. The light that faith offers [63-64]
    2. The wisdom of the biblical accounts [65-75]
    3. The mystery of the universe [76-83]
    4. The message of every creature in the harmony of all creation [84-88]
    5. A universal communion [89-92]
    6. The common destination of goods [93-95]
    7. The gaze of Jesus [96-100]
  • CHAPTER THREE: THE ROOT OF HUMAN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS [101]
    1. Technology: creativity and power [102-105]
    2. The globalization of the technocratic paradigm [106-114]
    3. Crises and consequences of modern anthropocentrism [115-121]
       • Relativism practice [122-123]
       • The need to defend labor [124-129]
       • Innovation from biological research [130-136]
  • CHAPTER FOUR: INTEGRAL ECOLOGY [137]
    1. Environmental, economic and social ecology [138-142]
    2. Cultural ecology [143-146]
    3. Ecology of daily life [147-155]
    4. The principle of the common good [156-158]
    5. Intergenerational justice [159-162] 122
  • CHAPTER FIVE: SOME GUIDELINES AND ACTION [163]
    1. Dialogue on the environment in international politics [164-175]
    2. Dialogue to new national and local policies [176-181]
    3. Dialogue and transparency in decision-making [182-188]
    4. Politics and economics in dialogue for human fullness [189-198]
    5. Religions in dialogue with the sciences [199-201]
  • CHAPTER SIX: EDUCATION AND ECOLOGICAL SPIRITUALITY [202]
    1. Pointing to another way of life [203-208]
    2. Educating the alliance between mankind and the environment [209-215]
    3. The conversion scheme [216-221]
    4. Joy and peace [222-227]
    5. Civil and political love [228-232]
    6. The sacramental signs and the celebratory repose [233-237]
    7. The Trinity and the relationship between the creatures [238-240]
    8. The Queen of all creation [241-242]
    9. Beyond the sun [243-246]
       • Prayer for our Earth
       • Christian prayer with creation

The leaked draft of “Laudato Si’”, Pope Francis’ widely anticipated encyclical on the crisis of climate change and other global environmental concerns, contains 146 numbered paragraphs contained within a preface and six chapters. The translation below from the original Italian is very rough, a Google translation amended by Brad Johnson.

ENCYCLICAL: PRAISED BE

Table of Contents

• Praised be, my Lord [1-2]

• • CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR HOME [17-19]
    1. Pollution and climate change
       • Pollution, refuse, and culture of waste [20-22]
       • The climate as a common good [23-26]
    2. The water issue [27-31]
    3. Biodiversity loss [32-42]
    4. Deterioration in the quality of human life and social degradation [43-47]
    5. Planetary inequities [48-52]
    6. The weakness of the reactions [53-59]
    7. Diversity of opinions [60-61]
  • CHAPTER TWO: THE GOSPEL OF CREATION [62]
    1. The light that faith offers [63-64]
    2. The wisdom of the biblical accounts [65-75]
    3. The mystery of the universe [76-83]
    4. The message of every creature in the harmony of all creation [84-88]
    5. A universal communion [89-92]
    6. The common destination of goods [93-95]
    7. The gaze of Jesus [96-100]
  • CHAPTER THREE: THE ROOT OF HUMAN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS [101]
    1. Technology: creativity and power [102-105]
    2. The globalization of the technocratic paradigm [106-114]
    3. Crises and consequences of modern anthropocentrism [115-121]
       • Relativism practice [122-123]
       • The need to defend labor [124-129]
       • Innovation from biological research [130-136]
  • CHAPTER FOUR: INTEGRAL ECOLOGY [137]
    1. Environmental, economic and social ecology [138-142]
    2. Cultural ecology [143-146]
    3. Ecology of daily life [147-155]
    4. The principle of the common good [156-158]
    5. Intergenerational justice [159-162] 122
  • CHAPTER FIVE: SOME GUIDELINES AND ACTION [163]
    1. Dialogue on the environment in international politics [164-175]
    2. Dialogue on new national and local policies [176-181]
    3. Dialogue and transparency in decision-making [182-188]
    4. Politics and economics in dialogue for human fullness [189-198]
    5. Religions in dialogue with the sciences [199-201]
  • CHAPTER SIX: EDUCATION AND ECOLOGICAL SPIRITUALITY [202]
    1. Pointing to another way of life [203-208]
    2. Educating the alliance between mankind and the environment [209-215]
    3. The conversion scheme [216-221]
    4. Joy and peace [222-227]
    5. Civil and political love [228-232]
    6. The sacramental signs and the celebratory repose [233-237]
    7. The Trinity and the relationship between the creatures [238-240]
    8. The Queen of all creation [241-242]
    9. Beyond the sun [243-246]
       • Prayer for our Earth
       • Christians pray, with creation

The leaked draft of “Laudato Si’”, Pope Francis’ widely anticipated encyclical on the crisis of climate change and other global environmental concerns, contains 146 numbered paragraphs contained within a preface and six chapters. The translation below from the original Italian is very rough, a Google translation amended by Brad Johnson.

ENCYCLICAL: PRAISED BE

Table of Contents

• Praised be, my Lord [1-2]

• • CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR HOME [17-19]
    1. Pollution and climate change
       • Pollution, refuse, and culture of waste [20-22]
       • The climate as a common good [23-26]
    2. The water issue [27-31]
    3. Biodiversity loss [32-42]
    4. Deterioration in the quality of human life and social degradation [43-47]
    5. Planetary inequities [48-52]
    6. The weakness of the reactions [53-59]
    7. Diversity of opinions [60-61]
  • CHAPTER TWO: THE GOSPEL OF CREATION [62]
    1. The light that faith offers [63-64]
    2. The wisdom of the biblical accounts [65-75]
    3. The mystery of the universe [76-83]
    4. The message of every creature in the harmony of all creation [84-88]
    5. A universal communion [89-92]
    6. The common destination of goods [93-95]
    7. The gaze of Jesus [96-100]
  • CHAPTER THREE: THE ROOT OF HUMAN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS [101]
    1. Technology: creativity and power [102-105]
    2. The globalization of the technocratic paradigm [106-114]
    3. Crises and consequences of modern anthropocentrism [115-121]
       • Relativism practice [122-123]
       • The need to defend labor [124-129]
       • Innovation from biological research [130-136]
  • CHAPTER FOUR: INTEGRAL ECOLOGY [137]
    1. Environmental, economic and social ecology [138-142]
    2. Cultural ecology [143-146]
    3. Ecology of daily life [147-155]
    4. The principle of the common good [156-158]
    5. Intergenerational justice [159-162] 122
  • CHAPTER FIVE: SOME GUIDELINES AND ACTION [163]
    1. Dialogue on the environment in international politics [164-175]
    2. Dialogue to new national and local policies [176-181]
    3. Dialogue and transparency in decision-making [182-188]
    4. Politics and economics in dialogue for human fullness [189-198]
    5. Religions in dialogue with the sciences [199-201]
  • CHAPTER SIX: EDUCATION AND ECOLOGICAL SPIRITUALITY [202]
    1. Pointing to another way of life [203-208]
    2. Educating the alliance between mankind and the environment [209-215]
    3. The conversion scheme [216-221]
    4. Joy and peace [222-227]
    5. Civil and political love [228-232]
    6. The sacramental signs and the celebratory repose [233-237]
    7. The Trinity and the relationship between the creatures [238-240]
    8. The Queen of all creation [241-242]
    9. Beyond the sun [243-246]
       • Prayer for our Earth
       • Christians pray, with creation

The leaked draft of “Laudato Si’”, Pope Francis’ widely anticipated encyclical on the crisis of climate change and other global environmental concerns, contains 146 numbered paragraphs contained within a preface and six chapters. The translation below from the original Italian is very rough, a Google translation amended by Brad Johnson.

ENCYCLICAL: PRAISED BE

Table of Contents

• Praised be, my Lord [1-2]

• • CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR HOME [17-19]
    1. Pollution and climate change
       • Pollution, refuse, and culture of waste [20-22]
       • The climate as a common good [23-26]
    2. The water issue [27-31]
    3. Biodiversity loss [32-42]
    4. Deterioration in the quality of human life and social degradation [43-47]
    5. Planetary inequities [48-52]
    6. The weakness of the reactions [53-59]
    7. Diversity of opinions [60-61]
  • CHAPTER TWO: THE GOSPEL OF CREATION [62]
    1. The light that faith offers [63-64]
    2. The wisdom of the biblical accounts [65-75]
    3. The mystery of the universe [76-83]
    4. The message of every creature in the harmony of all creation [84-88]
    5. A universal communion [89-92]
    6. The common destination of goods [93-95]
    7. The gaze of Jesus [96-100]
  • CHAPTER THREE: THE ROOT OF HUMAN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS [101]
    1. Technology: creativity and power [102-105]
    2. The globalization of the technocratic paradigm [106-114]
    3. Crises and consequences of modern anthropocentrism [115-121]
       • Relativism practice [122-123]
       • The need to defend labor [124-129]
       • Innovation from biological research [130-136]
  • CHAPTER FOUR: INTEGRAL ECOLOGY [137]
    1. Environmental, economic and social ecology [138-142]
    2. Cultural ecology [143-146]
    3. Ecology of daily life [147-155]
    4. The principle of the common good [156-158]
    5. Intergenerational justice [159-162] 122
  • CHAPTER FIVE: SOME GUIDELINES AND ACTION [163]
    1. Dialogue on the environment in international politics [164-175]
    2. Dialogue to new national and local policies [176-181]
    3. Dialogue and transparency in decision-making [182-188]
    4. Politics and economics in dialogue for human fullness [189-198]
    5. Religions in dialogue with the sciences [199-201]
  • CHAPTER SIX: EDUCATION AND ECOLOGICAL SPIRITUALITY [202]
    1. Pointing to another way of life [203-208]
    2. Educating the alliance between mankind and the environment [209-215]
    3. The conversion scheme [216-221]
    4. Joy and peace [222-227]
    5. Civil and political love [228-232]
    6. The sacramental signs and the celebratory repose [233-237]
    7. The Trinity and the relationship between the creatures [238-240]
    8. The Queen of all creation [241-242]
    9. Beyond the sun [243-246]
       • Prayer for our Earth
       • Christians pray, with creation

The leaked draft of “Laudato Si’”, Pope Francis’ widely anticipated encyclical on the crisis of climate change and other global environmental concerns, contains 146 numbered paragraphs in a preface and six chapters. The translation below is very rough, a Google translation amended by Brad Johnson.

ENCYCLICAL: PRAISED BE

Table of Contents

• Praised be, my Lord [1-2]

• • CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR HOME [17-19]
    1. Pollution and climate change
       • Pollution, refuse, and culture of waste [20-22]
       • The climate as a common good [23-26]
    2. The water issue [27-31]
    3. Biodiversity loss [32-42]
    4. Deterioration in the quality of human life and social degradation [43-47]
    5. Planetary inequities [48-52]
    6. The weakness of the reactions [53-59]
    7. Diversity of opinions [60-61]
  • CHAPTER TWO: THE GOSPEL OF CREATION [62]
    1. The light that faith offers [63-64]
    2. The wisdom of the biblical accounts [65-75]
    3. The mystery of the universe [76-83]
    4. The message of every creature in the harmony of all creation [84-88]
    5. A universal communion [89-92]
    6. The common destination of goods [93-95]
    7. The gaze of Jesus [96-100]
  • CHAPTER THREE: THE ROOT OF HUMAN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS [101]
    1. Technology: creativity and power [102-105]
    2. The globalization of the technocratic paradigm [106-114]
    3. Crises and consequences of modern anthropocentrism [115-121]
       • Relativism practice [122-123]
       • The need to defend labor [124-129]
       • Innovation from biological research [130-136]
  • CHAPTER FOUR: INTEGRAL ECOLOGY [137]
    1. Environmental, economic and social ecology [138-142]
    2. Cultural ecology [143-146]
    3. Ecology of daily life [147-155]
    4. The principle of the common good [156-158]
    5. Intergenerational justice [159-162] 122
  • CHAPTER FIVE: SOME GUIDELINES AND ACTION [163]
    1. Dialogue on the environment in international politics [164-175]
    2. Dialogue to new national and local policies [176-181]
    3. Dialogue and transparency in decision-making [182-188]
    4. Politics and economics in dialogue for human fullness [189-198]
    5. Religions in dialogue with the sciences [199-201]
  • CHAPTER SIX: EDUCATION AND ECOLOGICAL SPIRITUALITY [202]
    1. Pointing to another way of life [203-208]
    2. Educating the alliance between mankind and the environment [209-215]
    3. The conversion scheme [216-221]
    4. Joy and peace [222-227]
    5. Civil and political love [228-232]
    6. The sacramental signs and the celebratory repose [233-237]
    7. The Trinity and the relationship between the creatures [238-240]
    8. The Queen of all creation [241-242]
    9. Beyond the sun [243-246]
       • Prayer for our Earth
       • Christians pray, with creation

The leaked draft of “Laudato Si’”, Pope Francis’ widely anticipated encyclical on the crisis of climate change and other global environmental concerns, includes 246 numbered paragraphs contained within a preface and six chapters. The translation below from the original Italian is very rough, a Google translation amended by Brad Johnson.

A formatted English translation of the Laudato Si draft is available as a PDF, as is a full side-by-side translation.

ENCYCLICAL: PRAISED BE

Table of Contents

• Praised be, my Lord [1-2]

• Nothing that arises in this world is indifferent [3-6]

• United by the same concern [7-9]

• St. Francis of Assisi [10-12]

• My appeal [13-16]

• • CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR HOME [17-19]
    1. Pollution and climate change
       • Pollution, refuse, and culture of waste [20-22]
       • The climate as a common good [23-26]
    2. The water issue [27-31]
    3. Biodiversity loss [32-42]
    4. Deterioration in the quality of human life and social degradation [43-47]
    5. Planetary inequities [48-52]
    6. The weakness of the reactions [53-59]
    7. Diversity of opinions [60-61]
  • CHAPTER TWO: THE GOSPEL OF CREATION [62]
    1. The light that faith offers [63-64]
    2. The wisdom of the biblical accounts [65-75]
    3. The mystery of the universe [76-83]
    4. The message of every creature in the harmony of all creation [84-88]
    5. A universal communion [89-92]
    6. The common destination of goods [93-95]
    7. The gaze of Jesus [96-100]
  • CHAPTER THREE: THE ROOT OF HUMAN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS [101]
    1. Technology: creativity and power [102-105]
    2. The globalization of the technocratic paradigm [106-114]
    3. Crises and consequences of modern anthropocentrism [115-121]
       • Relativism practice [122-123]
       • The need to defend labor [124-129]
       • Innovation from biological research [130-136]
  • CHAPTER FOUR: INTEGRAL ECOLOGY [137]
    1. Environmental, economic and social ecology [138-142]
    2. Cultural ecology [143-146]
    3. Ecology of daily life [147-155]
    4. The principle of the common good [156-158]
    5. Intergenerational justice [159-162] 122
  • CHAPTER FIVE: SOME GUIDELINES AND ACTION [163]
    1. Dialogue on the environment in international politics [164-175]
    2. Dialogue to new national and local policies [176-181]
    3. Dialogue and transparency in decision-making [182-188]
    4. Politics and economics in dialogue for human fullness [189-198]
    5. Religions in dialogue with the sciences [199-201]
  • CHAPTER SIX: EDUCATION AND ECOLOGICAL SPIRITUALITY [202]
    1. Pointing to another way of life [203-208]
    2. Educating the alliance between mankind and the environment [209-215]
    3. The conversion scheme [216-221]
    4. Joy and peace [222-227]
    5. Civil and political love [228-232]
    6. The sacramental signs and the celebratory repose [233-237]
    7. The Trinity and the relationship between the creatures [238-240]
    8. The Queen of all creation [241-242]
    9. Beyond the sun [243-246]
       • Prayer for our Earth
       • Christians pray, with creation

Download the full side-by-side translation.

The magazine L’Espresso has leaked the Italian draft of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ widely anticipated encyclical on the global moral crisis of man-made global warming, days before its planned Thursday release. A Vatican spokesperson told Bloomberg that the leak was a “heinous act.”

The National Journal’s Jason Plautz summarizes

While renewable power is built up, the encyclical says, it is permissible to rely on fossil fuels, but that overall, the extraction and burning of oil and gas is evil.

The Catholic News Service’s Cindy Wooden reports that the title of the encyclical, “Laudato Si’”, “comes from a hymn of praise by St. Francis of Assisi that emphasizes being in harmony with God, with other creatures and with other human beings.” Father Michael Perry, head of the Franciscan Order, sang the medieval Italian hymn in the garden of the Franciscan headquarters in Rome on Friday, reciting St. Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures, also known as the Canticle of the Sun.

Once a person recognizes the “divine dignity” of every created being, Father Perry said, he or she recognizes a responsibility to “give glory to God by respecting and caring and promoting a sense of ‘being in this together,’ that life is one and each of us brings a special contribution.”

The interconnectedness of all creatures should help people to recognize that when they hoard riches and resources, they are harming their own brothers and sisters, especially the poor, he explained.

St. Francis’ canticle “is not just a flowery song about how we should live with nature. It is challenging us to revise our entire way of living our lives” in accordance with Gospel values, he said. “If someone is starving somewhere in the world, we are responsible.”

The canticle is a call for people to recognize that they are sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters to one another, he said, “part of one family that embraces all creation: trees, sun, rivers, wind, fire—all of these because they all give glory to God.”

While St. Francis’ praise of Brother Sun and Sister Moon has been romanticized in many ways, Father Perry said, the obligations it carries are very realistic and concrete: to defend human dignity, especially the dignity of the poor; to promote dialogue and reconciliation to end war; to safeguard the earth and all living creatures; and to learn to live with just what one needs, not all that one wants.

Speaking before the scheduled release June 18 of the encyclical, Father Perry said the title signals Pope Francis’ belief that the entire church and all its members must be in solidarity with the poor, “must be about peace” and must respect the planet.

Download the Italian draft of Laudato Si’.

Update: View or download an English translation of the draft text.