Author: Dan DiLeo

Prudence and Climate Change: How the Church Can Help Our Response to Climate Science

In his 1990 World Day of Peace Message, Pope John Paul II recognized that “[t]he gradual depletion of the ozone layer and the related ‘greenhouse effect’ has now reached crisis proportions as a consequence of industrial growth, massive urban concentrations and vastly increased energy needs.” At the time he delivered that message, the global atmospheric… Read More Prudence and Climate Change: How the Church Can Help Our Response to Climate Science

Dan DiLeo

Expectations and Hopes for Pope Francis’ Ecological Encyclical

Have you ever seen an aspiring theologian fist pump like Tiger Woods? You have if you were anywhere near me last Friday when the Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis has begun writing an encyclical addressing environmental challenges and “the ecology of man.” Rumors of a possible environmental encyclical have been swirling since November, when Pope… Read More Expectations and Hopes for Pope Francis’ Ecological Encyclical

Dan DiLeo

The Pope Francis Interview: Preaching the Gospel and Recovering the Consistent Life Ethic

If you haven’t yet read Robert Christian’s excellent piece in the Washington Post about Pope Francis’ interview in America Magazine, I highly recommend that you do so. It is one of the best commentaries that I have read to date on the recent interview (and I’m not just saying that because he is the editor… Read More The Pope Francis Interview: Preaching the Gospel and Recovering the Consistent Life Ethic

Dan DiLeo

Melting Ice, Mending Creation: a Catholic Approach to Climate Change

Quick: name one of your favorite Christian axioms. You know, one of the “tweetable” maxims that has developed over the two thousand year history of the Church. Is it: Do to others whatever you would have them do to you? (Mt 7:12) What about: Our hearts are restless until they rest in you? (Augustine) Maybe:… Read More Melting Ice, Mending Creation: a Catholic Approach to Climate Change

Dan DiLeo

Creation Care as a Tool in the New Evangelization

On June 28, 2010, the eve of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Benedict XVI created the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. Although much has been written about the various aspects of the New Evangelization initiative, one element of the Church’s mission that has received significantly less attention is the Church’s… Read More Creation Care as a Tool in the New Evangelization

Dan DiLeo

Pope Francis on Consumerism, Environmental Ecology, and Human Ecology

Since his election to the papacy, Pope Francis has made the care of God’s good gift of Creation one of the central themes of his pontificate. This is in a certain sense not surprising, given both the environmental legacy of his papal predecessors—Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John II, in particular—and his choice of the… Read More Pope Francis on Consumerism, Environmental Ecology, and Human Ecology

Dan DiLeo