Noah’s submission to God’s will is contrasted with the story’s antagonist’s insistence that man’s God-given dominion over earth means he can destroy and pillage as he sees fit. Writing in the New York Times, Ross Douthat points out the encyclical’s “catastrophism also leaves this pope more open to empirical criticism.” Douthat notes that despite Francis’s denunciation of a global system supposedly indifferent to the poor, a 2013 World Bank study shows there was has been dramatic improvement in global poverty in recent decades. What we learn from Pope Francis is the important of not making vital life decisions in isolation. With this encyclical, Pope Francis can rightly assume that mantle. Thomas Petri, O. P. explains, “even if it is true that science disproves some of what the Holy Father claims as erroneous, for example, about the causes of climate change, that does not negate from the obligation to be moral with regard to how we treat the climate, how we treat nature, and how we treat the excluded.”. A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal. In 22 of the first 25 photos of Pope Francis that come up, he's smiling. Fr. He is fine-tuned, sensitive, and he can read other people easily and clearly. John has previously contributed his homilies on Mary, Mother of God, to Devotions TV and Redemptorist TV. To move in directions that in the public eye are way out of the ordinary. Pope Francis possesses a great talent for creativity and self expression, typical of many accomplished writers, poets, actors and musicians. He hasn't changed the doctrine of the Catholic church or overhauled how it interacts with people, but he has changed how many people perceive it. There is an endless list of people who want to speak with him, there are numerus meetings that he needs to be part of and there is also a need to provide time for his own personal prayer life. While the antagonist is hiding in Noah’s ark (an example of Aronofsky’s creative license), he eats an animal that had been saved from the flood, saying, “they serve us. In opposition to the logic of Noah’s antagonist, Francis insists: “We do not understand our superiority as a reason for personal glory or irresponsible dominion, but rather as a different capacity which, in its turn, entails a serious responsibility stemming from our faith.” We are called to be stewards of creation, rather than plunderers of the earth. However, the prophet Zephaniah communicates God’s promise to the people: “I will forgive you”. Around the world, 60 percent of people say they have a favorable view of him; in the United States 9 out of 10 Catholics agree. Keep your Opinions sharp and informed. In the passage, the prophet recalls that although God chose his people, “this people became a rebellious city, an impure city. Pope Francis could not have stated it any better during his homily in Manila Cathedral: “Only by becoming poor ourselves, by stripping away our complacency, can we identify with the least of our brothers”. Christians who are not yet aware of the depths of the environment’s problems and the lengths we must go to help heal the planet must learn that “our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.” Francis continues, “we come to realize that a healthy relationship with creation is one dimension of overall personal conversion, which entails the recognition of our errors, sins, faults and failures, and leads to heartfelt repentance and desire to change.” This is a reminder that care for the environment must be understood as part of a complete human ecology in a fallen world.