Peter CostelloOption for the Poor & for the Earth: From Leo XIII to Pope Francis,
edited by Donal Dorr, revised edition
(Orbis Books, distributed by Alban Books, £29.99)
Climate change, though its manifestations more and more obvious as years go by, still has its deniers. Some of these are in important positions – Cardinal Pell, for instance.
Fr Donal Dorr has devoted his whole career to ecological questions. This new book is indeed a revision of an old one. Or rather it is an updated edition, to which a sheaf of important documents on these issues from Vatican sources, have been added.
Readers will naturally turn to the end to the discussion of the views of Pope Benedict, and those of his successor Pope Francis. These documents move from a man-centred view, which John Paul II had argued for, to a broader one in recent times, that human issues relating to the environment have to take account of the condition of the whole environment, our home on earth after all.
If we believe we have to deal justly with all men, as the “option for the poor” tells, we now realise that we must also deal justly with all living things – for even the rocks of the earth are organic too.
These are universal issues – we are already polluting outer space. But they come home sharply to where we all live.
These days you see that many people properly pick up after their dogs in the public parks, yet one can go down Grafton Street (and many other places) and see how we still allow humans to litter and foul the environment.
Yet it is not just a matter of litter at base. But a change of life, away from the often all too cosseted middle class comforts that those who command the fortunes of the country attempt to sustain. The stubborn reluctance of people to change is the great obstacle facing by Pope Francis in this area. Change is growth. We have all to grow up a little and think more widely. Fr Dorr’s book will be an essential aid to this change.