The Sum and Substance of Laudate Deum
A technical analysis of the pope’s apostolic exhortation on the environment
Sum and substance refer to the essential meaning, gist, the essence of something. In my mother tongue I would have called this article the ‘prato forte’, meaning ‘main dish’ (rather than sides an appetizers) which in Brazil is an expression that designates the principal element of any activity, not only a meal.
So far, I have seen a lot of appetizers but not much substantive or factual analysis on the pope’s apostolic exhortation on climate change, Laudate Deum, published October 4th – so this is my contribution. There is a lot of predictable intra-Catholic sparing and posturing that falls neatly along political preferences – a predominantly two-dimensional exchange. The Washington Post offers a snapshot of how the exhortation is being received outside of the Catholic Church in America.
In this post I will focus on three aspects of Laudate Deum (LD): 1. what’s new, 2. climate science and 3. the United States, which was referenced in the opening and closing quotes of the exhortation.
What’s New
The stated purpose of Laudate Deum is to offer an update to the pope’s landmark encyclical on ecology Laudato Si’, published in 2015. So naturally, as a sequel, the central question is: what’s new in Laudate Deum?
1. International (climate) politics
The most substantive contribution of Laudate Deum can be found in chapter 3 on international politics, and its subsequent application to climate change in chapters 4 and 5. In essence, this entire section is an application of the encyclical Fratelli Tutti to the environmental challenge put forth in Laudato Si’: a dialogue between the two encyclicals, and it’s very good.
The pope calls for a renewed multilateralism (LD 37-43), explaining how the old configuration is unsuited to address contemporary global problems such as the 2009 financial crisis, COVID-19, climate change… and one can apply the same argument to the war between Ukraine and Russia, the Syrian civil war (and perhaps the Karabakh conflict as well). In light of the recent meeting of BRIC leaders, a concrete expression of such a realignment, this is a key contribution of the exhortation.
2. Climate Manifesto
Pope Francis and other key Catholic leaders went to great lengths to explain that Laudato Si’ was not a climate change document or a green manifesto. The encyclical addressed climate change squarely, but not singularly. Laudate Deum, on the other hand, is clearly focused on climate change. This is a new emphasis, and the pope also gets very practical by dedicating two chapters to the UN sponsored COP convenings on climate change and calling for a “historic” (LD 59) COP 28 event in Dubai to effectively curb global emissions and address loss and damage.
3. Tone
The tone of Laudate Deum is different than Laudato Si’, and I dare say any other Francis document addressed to the faithful. The incipit - the opening lines– of Francis’ teachings always include joy, delight or praise, and the tone of each document is consistent with these positive emotions elicited by the title. Even Laudato Si’ - which contains a stark analysis of the technocratic paradigm inspired by Romano Guardini’s theology of power, an author known for his penetrating insights and prone to melancholy - is filled with faith and hope throughout.
Laudate Deum contains ‘praise’ in the title but the tone of the document is much more negative, captured well by Carlos Martinez: “ this is one of the least hopeful messages that Pope Francis has issued… ‘it appears from the language that he would give students a D, like a D-.’” Since the exhortations topic is to evaluate global achievements to reach Paris Agreement goals it would seem that a negative tone is inevitable. The bottom line is fossil fuels must be replaced at record pace to meet emissions reductions goals, and this has not happened.