“…it is man who has slapped nature in the face.” –Pope Francis

Wow!

Pope Francis is planning to release sometime this summer an encyclical on the environment. What an important voice to be heard…

According to a tagline about it in today’s edition of the Baltimore Sun: “U. S. conservatives are attacking encyclical on environment.”

“Conservative distrust of Pope Francis, which has been building in the U.S. throughout his pontificate, is reaching a boiling point over his plan to urge action on climate change — and to do so through a document traditionally used for the most important papal teachings.”

Here’s a Huffington Post piece about it from “aboard the Papal plane.”

“I don’t know if it (human activity) is the only cause, but mostly, in great part, it is man who has slapped nature in the face.  We have in a sense taken over nature.”

“I think we have exploited nature too much [citing deforestation and monoculture]. Thanks be to God that today there are voices, so many people who are speaking out about it.”

Again from the Sun today: “Francis’ strong and frequent denunciations of the global financial system and trickle-down economic theories prompted radio host Rush Limbaugh to call the pope’s economic views ‘pure Marxism.’ The pontiff has said he is simply quoting church teaching on helping the poor.”

At a news conference back in August, the Pope said: “In an encyclical like this that must be magisterial, it must only go forward on certainties, things that are sure.”