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NATURAL HERITAGE AND SCIENCE: THE DEFENSE
OF AN INTEGRAL ECOLOGY IN POPE FRANCISCO'S
ENCYCLICAL “LAUDATO SI’: ON THE CARE OF THE
COMMON HOUSE”
ASSIS DANIEL GOMES
DOCTOR IN HISTORY BY UFC
INTRODUCTION
In this paper, we discuss the relationships woven by
Pope Francis in the Encyclical “Laudato Si’”, between natural
heritage and science in order to defend an “integral ecology”. We
think it is pertinent to think about the relationships woven by
Pope Francis in the Encyclical “Laudato Si’” in 2015, between
natural heritage and science in order to defend an “integral
ecology”, taking into account that it was born out of the concerns
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of his present. This Encyclical becomes current, as these issues
are still alive in our daily lives, in the discourse of the local,
national and international press, in political and social clashes.
For that, looking at nature in a different way is not to
delay science, but to give it elements of an ecological ethics, in
favor of its valorization and maintenance. Thus, understanding
that we live in a “risk society” (BECK, 2010). This is an urgent
political and social position, given that the “care of the common
house” is not restricted to a group, but humanity with a view to
its future. According to Pope Francis (2015), recognizing that we
are creatures, that we were created like nature, and that we are
nature, is an important step towards taking other paths in the
relationship between culture and nature.
Therefore, we consider this study pertinent to think
about Pope Francis' ecotheology and how his position adds more
strength to groups and movements that were already moving to
change the way man relates to nature, his speeches and his
predatory practices .

In short, we aim to analyze the relationships, woven by
Pope Francis in the Encyclical “Laudato Si'”, between natural
heritage and science in order to defend an “integral ecology”, as
well as verifying the elements of Pope Francis' ecotheology and
analyzing how it dialogues with the sciences and the guidelines of
socio-ecological movements.
Ecotheology: another way forward
We chose to carry out a qualitative research, whose
research is not bibliographical in nature. For this, we seek to
analyze the encyclical Laudato Si’ of Pope Francis, verifying the
author and his text (internal elements), its context (external
elements) and its reception (RICOEUR, 1978). This approach
(theological hermeneutics) helped us to situate the text
historically, detect its particularities in relation to its production
context and its consumption (reception) at that time. Ricoeurian
hermeneutics allows us to understand the human existential
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elements linked both to a collective, I am in the middle of a
group, and to an individual, I am when I understand myself.
These two paths are linked and driven by the symbolic meanings
that give them meaning.
Pope Francis is Argentine Archbishop Jorge Mario
Bergoglio. First Jesuit priest who managed to reach the highest
level in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church: to be Pope. The
theology and spirituality of St. Ignatius (Ignatian), founder of the
Society of Jesus, guide his papacy, is present in his actions and in
his theological writing. We see this in the encyclicals and letters
he has written since his accession to the throne of St. Peter in
2013.
Mario Bergoglio's gaze is made through a position that is
directed to the present and not to the past, an attempt to open
the Church to the world - an objective established by the Second
Vatican Council, seeking to dialogue with him and give Christian
indications for a more fraternal and human experience. Dialogue
with the world is to recognize that it has affected the progress of

the local and universal Church, given that those who belong to it
are immersed in their communities.
In this age of dystopia, where dreams seem to crumble
and melt into a deep pessimism, feeding the culture of death,
Pope Francis invites us to a new way of living life, to a spirituality
that is disconnected from the consumer culture, that withdraws
your existence out of the shackles of money and understand that
it is more than owning something. We are part of creation, we are
part of a living community created by God, we are brothers and
we have to protect each other. Cultivating brotherly love is not
associated with having and giving objects, but with having and
giving love.
One of the current issues that attracted the attention of
Pope Francis and made him uneasy, pushing him to give light
and paths to be followed by Catholics, was the environmental
issue. The environmental problem is global and is a symbol of the
other social and economic problems that affect the various
communities around the world, which also impact the Church
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that is formed by it. With this in mind, the approximation with
the liberation theologians and their reading of the current world
was made, as such a look at realities was associated with an
action-prayer. This helps to think concretely about the pastoral
actions and diversity of each diocesan Church.
Beyond the Church, the Encyclical Laudato Si’ is aimed
at all people of good will, reaching everyone open to hearing
about environmental problems. This encyclical was written at the
time of international debate that proposed to reduce pollution on
the planet. This papal position invites us to think about future
generations that the unnecessary destruction of resources in view
of excessive consumption cannot continue.
This hyper-consumerism makes us forget that we are
part of nature and that its destruction is also ours. The use of
reference to the work of Father Romano Guardini refers to the
pope's care in placing himself in today's world, where the tension
between right and left has radically narrowed. The pope builds
his speech through a third way, the one followed by Guardini, a

democratic speech, defending the end of authoritarianism and
totalitarianism that in the 21st century took on new faces, faces
and practices. Rossi and Silva (2020) consider from their reading
of the encyclical Laudato Si' that Pope Francis helps us to
understand that science and theology are complementary and
not different discourses, that both can dialogue and be used to
promote good collective, safeguarding a fundamental element of
ethics.
Pope Francis Laudato Si’'s Encyclical came into contact
with an ecological theology that is being produced in Latin
America, for example, by theologian Leonardo Boff. For Boff
(2012), a change of position is needed in relation to the use and
abuse of natural resources, respecting, for example, their limits.
This radical change, “revolution”, would allow our survival and
the preservation of nature. According to him, “it is in this urgent
context that we formulate our reflections on sustainability. They
are just initials, without claiming to be conclusive, but they can,
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perhaps, animate the discussion and mobilize many to put out
the fire that is consuming the Common House” (2012, p.10).
Finally, sustainability is associated with cultural heritage,
particularly the so-called natural heritage. Heritage education
linked to spirituality about ecology, its preservation and its use
sustains the revolution defended by theologian Leonardo Boff.
Theologian Afonso Murad (2019; 2020) defended
ecotheology as the science of faith, whose basis for this radical
change was associated with the spirituality of Christians. In this
way, it is not reduced to a creed, Church and doctrine, but in the
relationship that man has with God's creation. The promotion of
ecological education should not be done with the aim of merely
transmitting scientific knowledge about the environment, but
building a new form of relationship with it, in the development of
a spirituality that sees it in a different way. According to Zwetsch
(2008), fighting for a change in people's behavior in relation to
the use and abuse of natural resources is more complex than the

ideological clashes of the 20th century, for example, between
socialism and communism.
This ecological spirituality, which is exemplified by the
spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, would help us to see more
clearly possible paths today to face such impasses. For him,
Leonardo Boff is the creator of ecotheology in Latin America
from both a theoretical and a methodological point of view. For
Murad,
We can consider ecology from three different and
complementary perspectives: science, social practice
and paradigm[...]. As a science, ecology studies how
all the beings that inhabit our Common Home
(biotic and abiotic) interact in their multiple and
complex relationships of interdependence. As a
social practice and ethics, under the name of
“ecology” and “ecological movement” are sheltered a
wide range of people, groups and institutions that
effectively assume new positions in relation to our
Common Home. They promote individual attitudes,
community actions and institutional policies to
reduce the negative impact on the environment and
establish a new form of relationship with the
planet's community of life, the biosphere. (2019,
p.80).
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In the encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis sought to
clarify his understanding of ecology in order to broaden and
create networks of dialogue. For him, “ecology studies the
relationships between living organisms and the environment in
which they develop” (2015, p.85). Thus, he highlights that when
mentioning the environment, he is taking into account the
relationship between society and nature. Understanding in this
way helps us to verify a correlation between them, whose
problems are interconnected and not separate. For him, the crisis
we are experiencing in today's world is environmental and social
at the same time, that is, a socio-environmental crisis. Therefore,
if we want to solve it, we have to build a “comprehensive
approach to fight poverty, develop dignity for the excluded and,
simultaneously, take care of nature” (Papa Francisco, 2015,
p.86).
Thus, environmental problems, for the aforementioned
pontiff, are not understood in isolation. In order to formulate
actions that intend to resolve them, the various contexts in which

it is immersed must be analyzed, for example, human, labor and
urban contexts. Ecology is not merely environmental but also
social. Social and institutional ecology impacts the various
dimensions, ranging from local social groups to the more
complex organizations that make up the structure of the nation.
Thinking like this, ecology has to highlight its heritage character.
For Pope Francis, “ecology also involves taking care of the
cultural riches of humanity, in its broadest sense” (2015, p.88).
To clarify the term culture, he emphasizes that when
referring to it, he linked it not only to the idea of monument of
the past, but also to the dynamic, to the living sense, its re-
signification and its use in the present. This perspective removes
the plastering of the culture linked to the idea of preservation to
connect it to sustainability, emphasizing the relationship
between the two to build new meanings between communities
and these cultural heritages, preserve elements of the past and
transform them into livelihoods for the community that ensures
its permanence. This concept is based on the experience of the
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Church of Rome, which is responsible for various cultural
heritages and that its heritage policy had to adapt over the
centuries to economic and social issues, reinventing itself
(dynamicity) to preserve its heritage and contribute to improving
the income of the local population.
Two elements are fought in the text: consumerism and
cultural imperialism. This posture is not a denial of the idea of
progress, but the understanding that progress is linked to the
idea of development: “global improvement in the quality of
human life” (Papa Francisco, 2015, p.89). This issue is based on
the Church's social doctrine and on the defense of the dignity of
the human person, the emphasis on this theological line is due to
social problems linked to inhuman progress, where many people
lack housing and food, for example. The abandonment of these
vulnerable groups by the state affects both urban and rural areas,
essential services do not reach these groups, introjecting them
into a world of illegal labor, whose slave labor, precarious

working conditions and lack of labor rights destroy the dignity of
the human person.
Ecology must be related to the right to life, moral laws
and nature. These elements favor limiting progress, taking into
account ethical and humanitarian principles, as well as guiding it
towards the promotion of a collective rather than an individual
good: “human ecology is inseparable from the notion of common
good, a principle that plays a central role and unifying in social
ethics” (Papa Francisco, 2015, p.94).
The idea of the common good used by Pope Francis is an
expectation for the future based on his experience of the present.
Therefore, he emphasized that “one cannot talk about
sustainable development without intergenerational solidarity”
(Papa Francisco, 2015, p.94). Thus, the current lifestyle must be
rethought if we are to dream of a future. For him,
Man and woman in this postmodern world are at
constant risk of becoming profoundly
individualistic, and many social problems today are
related to the selfish pursuit of immediate
satisfaction, to crises in family and social ties, to
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difficulties in recognize the other. (Papa Francisco,
2015, p.97).
Thus, thinking about ecological sustainability becomes
urgent, but linked to a conversion of life perspective, the exit
from an individualistic world to a more fraternal and collective
one. Sustainability understood as nurturing and feeding helps us
to understand the origin of this concept linked to the
countryside, that is, it came from forestry. This perspective is a
way to respond to the needs of the present, looking to the future
and preserving the survival of new generations.
According to sociologist Beck (2018), in order to change
this situation, we have to replace “methodological nationalism”
with “methodological cosmopolitanism”, that is, the common
thread that should move our actions, practices and attitudes is
the following premise: “the nation spins around the “world at
risk”” (BECK, 2018, p.57). For him, the metamorphosis of society
and the concrete changes to leave a “world at risk” is that global
risks, whether climate or financial, were managed by public

communication. Therefore, giving visibility to global risks is to
build a society and a policy more engaged in these issues, destroy
the false images disseminated on the subject, create a public
sphere that discusses and defends these changes. This is
necessary because, “global risks create globalized publics;
globalized publics make visible and political global risks” (BECK,
2018, p.167).
According to Boff (2012), we cannot want progress in the
present that will impact the survival of humanity in the future,
this culture of immediacy destroys existing resources through the
idea of exaggerated consumerism and the culture of disposal.
Ethical principles are discarded based on cultural relativism,
poverty deepens when few embarrass power and money. This
posture is a crisis of the modern project and represents a
deviation from its primary objectives: "the moderns imagined
that the human being's vocation is development, in all areas, and
that this translates into a project of unlimited progress" (BOFF ,
2012, p.70).
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The defense of an integrative sustainability is a path to be
followed. And Pope Francis developed one of these paths from
the link between sustainability, the Church's social doctrine and
pastoral theology. For him,
Sustainability is any action aimed at maintaining the
energetic, informational, physical-chemical
conditions that sustain all beings, especially the
living Earth, the community of life and human life,
aiming at its continuity and still meeting the needs
of the present and future generations. , in such a way
that natural capital is maintained and enriched in its
capacity for regeneration, reproduction and co-
evolution. (BOFF, 2012, p.107).
This definition of sustainability was incorporated by
Pope Francis in the encyclical Laudato Si’ which emphasizes
from the beginning that we are part of God's creation, we are part
of nature. The position of St. Francis of Assisi, highlighted in this
papal encyclical, becomes pertinent when he looks at the present,
at nature - not seeing it as a mere instrument that can meet his
material needs, but looking at it as God's creation, like a brother,
since man and she (nature) were created by the same God.

This was a way of reminding Christians of their
spirituality and that it would help them not to become obsessed
with consumption, that is, “Christian spirituality proposes a
growth in sobriety and an ability to rejoice with little” (Papa
Francisco, 2015, p.128). For him, this path would lead us to
universal brotherhood, it would lead us to practice the little path
of love as taught by St. Teresa of Lisieux.
Final considerations
The link in Pope Francis' encyclical between natural
heritage and science is the defense of an integral ecology and the
promotion of education for the new generations in the use and
protection of these resources. This education, however, must be
carried by the Christian spirituality that moves us to look at the
environment as God's creation, as a brother.
This posture did not prohibit its use or
instrumentalization for human survival, but it limits it - taking
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into account ethics and the values of respect and survival. To
limit human ambition and hyper-consumerism is to respect and
understand that nature has its dynamics, its cycle, and when this
is interrupted, all harmony in the universe is harmed.
We are part of this nature, breaking and destroying with
it needlessly, seeking only profit and personal ambitions, puts
present and future society at risk. Pope Francis calls us to a
conversion of life, to a posture and a look of love and care for the
common home. This is done in a micro way, in your home, in
your family and in your community, but also macro - through
public policies (municipal, state, national and international) that
favor a sustainable use of the environment.
Finally, we consider this encyclical to be an important
milestone in the Catholic Church that stands in relation to this
discussion, proposing a reflection beyond creeds and political
positions, this was done through a common objective: the
survival of everyone. This element must build solidarity and

fraternity that promote a union for the common good and an
ecological spirituality.
References
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BECK, Ulrich. A metamorfose do mundo: novos conceitos para
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BECK, Ulrich; GIDDENS, A; LASH, S. Modernização reflexiva:
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BOFF, Leonardo. Sustentabilidade: o que é; o que não é.
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BOFF, Leonardo. Ecologia, mundialização, espiritualidade. Rio
de Janeiro; Record, 2008.
FOLLMANN, José Ivo (org). Ecologia integral: abordagens
(im)pertinentes. São Leopoldo: Casa Leiria, 2020.
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MURAD, Afonso. Da ecologia à ecoteologia: Uma visão
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Translator:
Prof.Dr. Assis Daniel Gomes
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