POPE FRANCIS’ ENCYCLICAL IS MORE THAN JUST TREE-PLANTING! -Fr. Cedric Prakash sj* At a recent meeting, the Pope’s latest Encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ on the ‘care of our common home’ was being discussed by a group. A senior and well-intentioned member suddenly suggested that in the context of the Encyclical, we should encourage the children in our schools to plant trees. Some certainly applauded the suggestion; others retorted “we have been doing so for the last several years” and at least one rather strongly said that “the Pope’s Encyclical is not about tree-planting!” Tree-planting as such is not such a bad idea at all; one can learn plenty: sensitivity to nature and how to nurture a tender sapling from the very beginning. So when one talks about the Pope’s Encyclical and about tree-planting in the same breath, one is surely going to warm the cockles of the heart of many across the board: of the rich and the famous; of the powerful and other vested interests; of Governments and those in authority; of those who plunder and destroy this earth because of their rapacious greed and selfishness. “Wow”, they would say, “the Pope in ‘Laudato Si’ is speaking about tree-planting; we have nothing to fear!” After all, one cannot deny that some of the most luscious gardens, well-manicured lawns and even personal forests belong to these very groups that are responsible for global warming, climate change and for profiteering after ruining the fragile eco-systems, which belong to all of us. The truth is that relegating or equating the Pope’s Encyclical to tree-planting is very unfortunate: either one does not have the courage to read the Encyclical nor the openness to be able to accept what the Pope is saying very directly and unequivocally.
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President Kanpur Mandal (Youth Wing)
National Human Right Protection Institution
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