BE OUR GUEST: How Pope seeks to heal planet.

Pope Francis’ just-released encyclical “Laudato si” (“Praised Be to You”) has been heralded as the beginning of a new Catholic alliance with the environmental movement. But to read it only as such would be to sell it short.

It’s a reflection on what Francis calls our present “ecological crisis,” which goes far deeper than matters typically labeled “environmental.” He’s asking us to reflect on creation as a whole.

Drawing on his predecessors, early on Francis quotes Pope Benedict XVI, who taught that “the misuse of creation begins when we no longer recognize any higher instance than ourselves, when we see nothing else but ourselves.” While the encyclical is addressed to “every living person on this planet,” Francis offers a distinctively Catholic approach that can and must be brought to bear on ecological concerns.

In the leadup to the encyclical’s release, much of the attention has been focused on the question of climate change. Francis believes that there is a “very solid scientific consensus” that climate change is real and occurs “mainly as a result of human activity.”

Yet he does not align himself with those who think that people are the problem as a drain on the natural world. Instead, he pointedly notes that “to blame population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues.”

It’s his concern for the poor, a constant theme throughout his papacy, that makes him champion these issues. It is, after all, the poor and vulnerable who suffer the most from abuses to our environment, and it’s Francis’ deeply held Catholic conviction that the Earth — and all of creation — is not ours to own, use, and abuse, but is a gift from God that must be protected and preserved to point us back to the Creator.

The real question for Francis is “What kind of world do we want to leave those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” It’s this question that causes him to encourage the reduction of fossil fuels and push for renewable sources of energy, clean water sources and efforts to reduce pollution.

Importantly, in cooperating with God’s design for creation, Francis does not limit his concerns to strictly environmental matters. “When we fail to acknowledge as part of reality the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, a person with disabilities . . . it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself; everything is connected,” he reminds us.

Drawing from Benedict, he critiques “the culture of relativism” that treats individuals as objects rather than as persons with equal dignity. Treating all people with dignity is the first step towards rejecting what Francis calls a “throwaway culture” — another consistent message of his papacy that appears throughout the encyclical.

“On Care for Our Common Home,” the subtitle of the encyclical, reminds us that this task is incumbent upon us all. In recent decades, the Catholic Church has been polarized by those who are often labeled “social justice Catholics” and “pro-life Catholics.” One of the many gifts of “Laudato Si” is that it reminds us that these realms are naturally intertwined.

For other Christians, this document serves as an occasion to address not just the environmental concerns, but their spiritual roots as well. And for those of no particular religious persuasion, our common home requires common care and we all must act — in big ways and in small — to ensure its protection.

Throughout his papacy, Francis has never shied away from the hard questions that confront the Church and the world around him. “Laudato Si” asks that we follow that same example.

Yes, his encyclical is partly about climate change, but the call to action is much broader than that