Holy Cross Professors Weigh in on the Importance of the Pope's Encyclical

Pope Francis’ recent encyclical regarding the environment and climate change has been the topic of many headlines this week.  Two College of the Holy Cross professors, Alice Laffey, associate professor of religious studies, and Rev. Thomas Worcester, S.J., professor of history, spoke with news outlets regarding the Pope’s call to action for Catholics and non-Catholics alike regarding the environment.  The highly anticipated encyclical calls for a solidarity among all people with the earth in order to promote sustainability and protect the environment.

Laffey, speaking to the Telegram and Gazette, was glad that the Pope has brought attention to these pressing issues, “I'm sure he's going to come down on fossil fuels, on our over-consumption, and on the fact that the people most affected are the poor and the powerless.”  Laffey, who has studied ecology and the Bible, believes that “the most significant thing is that it's an encyclical.  What he's trying to do is raise (this) to the closest thing we have to doctrine, and to use his position to talk about this as being universal."

Fr. Worcester, a papal expert, spoke with the Catholic Free Press, stating his belief “that it is the most important encyclical since 1891.” Fr. Worcester adds that he read the entire encyclical right away, finding within it a new message, “what’s really new here is the sense of urgency.  It is urgent now, not something we can put off.”

This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Sarah Barrett ’18.