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PopeWatch: Encyclical Translated: Part IV

VATICAN-POPE-AUDIENCE

 

Continuing on with the translation by PopeWatch of the Green Encyclical.  Go here to read the first part,  here to read the second part and here to read the third part.

147.The Pope wants improvement in the environment in which people lead their daily lives.

148.Pope praises people who live in bad locations, slums for example, but who improve their lives by ties of families, friendship and other associations.

149.Bad living conditions can lead to anti-social behavior, but the Pope is confident that love can always triumph even in the worst living conditions.

150.Pope believes that urban planners should always take into consideration the views of people who live in the locations subject to the planning.

151.Common areas and landmarks should be protected.  (The Pope demonstrates no understanding that such “should lists” are carried out in real life by bureaucratic regulation that stifles investment and economic growth, precisely what poor people anywhere need.)

152.The Pope condemns lack of housing in urban areas.  At the same time he wants to attempt to preserve and “integrate” slums and run down areas through improvements.  (The Pope’s focus, as throughout the entire Encyclical, is for government to do quite a few things, many of them contradictory.  He is unaware that some of his goals could be reached by getting government out of the way and unleashing the markets he so distrusts.)

153.The Pope likes public transportation and does not like private cars in urban centers.  Public transportation should be improved.

154.Life isn’t a bed of roses for those living in rural areas, even though the focus of the Pope is on urban dwellers.

155.Pope takes a swipe at the gender ideologues who pretend that “man” and “woman” are voluntary categories rather than facts of life.  (Would that the Pope had written an encyclical on that subject!)

156.Human ecology is inseparable from the common good.

157.A nod to subsidiarity, especially in regard to the family, as promoting the common good.

158.Solidarity and preference for the poor along with a reference to the universal destination of the world’s goods.  (When talked of globally, the universal destination of goods would require a dictatorial state of immense powers to take from the haves and give to the have nots.)

159.Remember the youth!

160.What type of world do we want to leave our kids?  (A free one would be nice your Holiness.)

161.Don’t just sit there, panic!

162.Pope condemns individualism and selfishness.  Help the poor.  (Of course collectivist efforts, ostensibly for the poor, have produced both bad environments and immense poverty.  In Argentina the dominant party, the Peronists, have sought to channel government power to help the poor for the past seven decades and produced vast corruption, immense slums, a stagnant economy and a vast bureaucracy.  It seems that the Pope believes this type of effort will work next time if good hearted people are in charge.)

163.Now the Pope will tell us what to do about this mess, although he hasn’t been shy about giving out general suggestions prior to this part of the Encyclical.

164.One world with a common plan.  (That sounds both ominous and impossible.)

165.Replace fossil fuels as soon as possible.

166.The ecological movement has met with limited success.

167.1992 Earth Summit goals have not been reached.

168.The Pope cites several international environmental conventions that he believes have been working.

169.Progress has not been made on climate change because some countries put national interest above global good.  (As defined by whom?)

170.Make the gringo countries pay for cleaning up the mess.

171.The Pope condemns the carbon trading scam.

172.Poor countries need help in not being poor and in ecologically sound development.  The gringo nations should pay to help them accomplish this.

173.Calls for some global authority to impose global regulations.  This should be done by agreement among the nations of the Earth.

174.A global authority for the oceans.

175.A global authority to tame the nasty free markets.

176.Fairness within countries when it comes to improvements of the environment as well as between nations.

177.Ramp up the nanny states to impose rules for our own good.

178.Darn Democracy prevents imposition of necessary measures to improve the world.

179.A confused paragraph where the Pope rambles on about cooperatives, noble indigenous people, and an insistence on a ramping up of the regulatory state.  (PopeWatch has no doubt that the Pope personally wrote every word of this paragraph, as it resonates with his stream of consciousness style when he goes off text.)

180.Economies must be transformed to conserve energy, modifying consumption, and the Pope continues with a laundry list of other things that he has zero chances of getting from economies short of gun point.

181.Darn Democracy prevents continuity of policies.

182.The Pope notes the problem of corruption in regard to environmental impact studies, even as he calls for an increase in regulation which will lead to more corruption.  (The more power government officials have over businesses through regulations, the more they will bleed them for every cent that they can get.  Coming from Argentina, the land of  endless hands out by government officials for bribes, the Pope should know this.)

183.The Pope has a wishlist for environmental impact assessments that would effectively kill the creation of any new manufacturing, mining or energy businesses.

184.More of the same.

185.Questions the Pope wants asked before any new business is approved:  “What will it accomplish? Why? Where? When? How? For whom? What are the risks? What are the costs? Who will pay those costs and how?”  (The Pope, knowingly or unknowingly, wants to put civilization in stasis, a la Japan from the 17th-19th centuries.  This is a terrible plan and its saving grace is that it is not possible on a global scale.)

186.Projects should be halted if they could pose great harm even if the science is uncertain.

187.The Pope notes that he is not opposed to all technological innovations.  (Perhaps not, but that would be the result of this Encyclical if it is taken seriously outside of Catholic blog comboxes.)

188.The Pope understands that it is not easy to achieve consensus on certain environmental issues.  (That assertion would be easier to swallow if the Encyclical were not such a stacked deck.)

189.More bashing of markets.  (The Pope does not seem to view the love of money as the root of all evil, but rather the free investment of money.)

190.The environment must be saved no matter what it costs in money.  (The Pope, in his hatred of markets, ignores that the most successful capitalist countries have the best environments.  PopeWatch suspects that the Pope does truly believe that endless amounts of money can be conjured out of nothing.)

191.A decrease in production and consumption can lead to new forms of developments.  (Yep, more of the slums like the ones the Pope used to visit in Buenos Aires.)

192.The Pope describes his ideal economy which has zero chance of realization.

193.Contain economic growth by setting “reasonable limits” (By whom?), and even retracing our steps.  (If Pol Pot hadn’t kicked the bucket in 1998, PopeWatch would wonder if he had a hand in writing this section.)

194.The Pope wants a root and branch transformation on the economy away from profit.  Once again, the Pope and Real World economics are not on speaking terms.

195.Those who think economies are about profits are wrong.

196.The Pope turns to politics.

197.A healthy politics agrees with what the Pope wants to do.

198.Politics and economics should cooperate.  (Heavens no!  Real disasters result when politicians and businessmen are singing from the same hymnal.)

We will conclude on Thursday.

 

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Michael Paterson-Seymour
Michael Paterson-Seymour
Wednesday, June 24, AD 2015 6:10am

Perhaps, the Holy Father (or his advisers) have been reading Slavoj Žižek, who has suggested a 4-point plan for addressing climate change

“What is demanded is:

– strict egalitarian justice (all people should pay the same price in eventual renunciations, i.e., one should impose the same world-wide norms of per capita energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, etc.; the developed nations should not be allowed to poison the environment at the present rate, blaming the developing Third World countries, from Brazil to China, for ruining our shared environment with their rapid development);

– terror (ruthless punishment of all who violate the imposed protective measures, inclusive of severe limitations of liberal “freedoms,” technological control of the prospective law-breakers);

– voluntarism (the only way to confront the threat of the ecological catastrophe is by means of large-scale collective decisions which will run counter the “spontaneous” immanent logic of capitalist development – it is not the question of helping the historical tendency or necessity to realize itself, but to “stop the train” of history which runs towards the precipice of global catastrophe;

– and, last but not least, all this combined with the trust in the people (the wager that the large majority of the people support these severe measures, see them as their own, and are ready to participate in their enforcement). One should not be afraid to assert, as a combination of terror and trust in the people, the reactivation of one of the figures of all egalitarian-revolutionary terror, the “informer” who denounces the culprits to the authorities.”

Dante alighieri
Admin
Wednesday, June 24, AD 2015 6:21am

Would that the Pope had written an encyclical on that subject!

I hope to have my own writeup soon, but the agonizing thing about this encyclical is that it thisclose to being an excellent corrective to some of the problems with modern society. He has a keen Burkean sense of the interconnectedness of all things through time and space (very Dr. Whovian, I know). And yet, it somehow misses and falls flat.

Don L
Don L
Wednesday, June 24, AD 2015 7:13am

Another Scalp for the Grievance Industry »

PopeWatch: Encyclical Translated: Part IV

Published Wednesday, June 24, A.D. 2015 | By Donald R. McClarey

VATICAN-POPE-AUDIENCE

Continuing on with the translation by PopeWatch of the Green Encyclical. Go here to read the first part, here to read the second part and here to read the third part.

147.The Pope wants improvement in the environment in which people lead their daily lives.

148.Pope praises people who live in bad locations, slums for example, but who improve their lives by ties of families, friendship and other associations.

149.Bad living conditions can lead to anti-social behavior, but the Pope is confident that love can always triumph even in the worst living conditions.

150.Pope believes that urban planners should always take into consideration the views of people who live in the locations subject to the planning.

151.Common areas and landmarks should be protected. (The Pope demonstrates no understanding that such “should lists” are carried out in real life by bureaucratic regulation that stifles investment and economic growth, precisely what poor people anywhere need.)

152.The Pope condemns lack of housing in urban areas. At the same time he wants to attempt to preserve and “integrate” slums and run down areas through improvements. (The Pope’s focus, as throughout the entire Encyclical, is for government to do quite a few things, many of them contradictory. He is unaware that some of his goals could be reached by getting government out of the way and unleashing the markets he so distrusts.)

153.The Pope likes public transportation and does not like private cars in urban centers. Public transportation should be improved.

154.Life isn’t a bed of roses for those living in rural areas, even though the focus of the Pope is on urban dwellers.

155.Pope takes a swipe at the gender ideologues who pretend that “man” and “woman” are voluntary categories rather than facts of life. Would that the Pope had written an encyclical on that subject!

156.Human ecology is inseparable from the common good.

157.A nod to subsidiarity, especially in regard to the family, as promoting the common good.

158.Solidarity and preference for the poor along with a reference to the universal destination of the world’s goods. (When talked of globally, the universal destination of goods would require a dictatorial state of immense powers to take from the haves and give to the have nots.)

159.Remember the youth!

160.What type of world do we want to leave our kids? (A free one would be nice your Holiness.)

161.Don’t just sit there, panic!

162.Pope condemns individualism and selfishness. Help the poor. (Of course collectivist efforts, ostensibly for the poor, have produced both bad environments and immense poverty. In Argentina the dominant party, the Peronists, have sought to channel government power to help the poor for the past seven decades and produced vast corruption, immense slums, a stagnant economy and a vast bureaucracy. It seems that the Pope believes this type of effort will work next time if good hearted people are in charge.)

163.Now the Pope will tell us what to do about this mess, although he hasn’t been shy about giving out general suggestions prior to this part of the Encyclical.

164.One world with a common plan. (That sounds both ominous and impossible.)

165.Replace fossil fuels as soon as possible.

166.The ecological movement has met with limited success.

167.1992 Earth Summit goals have not been reached.

168.The Pope cites several international environmental conventions that he believes have been working.

169.Progress has not been made on climate change because some countries put national interest above global good. (As defined by whom?)

170.Make the gringo countries pay for cleaning up the mess.

171.The Pope condemns the carbon trading scam.

172.Poor countries need help in not being poor and in ecologically sound development. The gringo nations should pay to help them accomplish this.

173.Calls for some global authority to impose global regulations. This should be done by agreement among the nations of the Earth.

174.A global authority for the oceans.

175.A global authority to tame the nasty free markets.

176.Fairness within countries when it comes to improvements of the environment as well as between nations.

177.Ramp up the nanny states to impose rules for our own good.

178.Darn Democracy prevents imposition of necessary measures to improve the world.

179.A confused paragraph where the Pope rambles on about cooperatives, noble indigenous people, and an insistence on a ramping up of the regulatory state. (PopeWatch has no doubt that the Pope personally wrote every word of this paragraph, as it resonates with his stream of consciousness style when he goes off text.)

180.Economies must be transformed to conserve energy, modifying consumption, and the Pope continues with a laundry list of other things that he has zero chances of getting from economies short of gun point.

181.Darn Democracy prevents continuity of policies.

182.The Pope notes the problem of corruption in regard to environmental impact studies, even as he calls for an increase in regulation which will lead to more corruption. The more power government officials have over businesses through regulations, the more they will bleed them for every cent that they can get. Coming from Argentina, the land of endless hands out by government officials for bribes, the Pope should know this.

183.The Pope has a wishlist for environmental impact assessments that would effectively kill the creation of any new manufacturing, mining or energy businesses.

184.More of the same.

185.Questions the Pope wants asked before any new business is approved: “What will it accomplish? Why? Where? When? How? For whom? What are the risks? What are the costs? Who will pay those costs and how?” (The Pope, knowingly or unknowingly, wants to put civilization in stasis, a la Japan from the 17th-19th centuries. This is a terrible plan and its saving grace is that it is not possible on a global scale.)

186.Projects should be halted if they could pose great harm even if the science is uncertain.

187.The Pope notes that he is not opposed to all technological innovations. (Perhaps not, but that would be the result of this Encyclical if it is taken seriously outside of Catholic blog comboxes.)

188.The Pope understands that it is not easy to achieve consensus on certain environmental issues. (That assertion would be easier to swallow if the Encyclical were not such a stacked deck.)

189.More bashing of markets. (The Pope does not seem to view the love of money as the root of all evil, but rather the free investment of money.)

190.The environment must be saved no matter what it costs in money. (The Pope, in his hatred of markets, ignores that the most successful capitalist countries have the best environments. PopeWatch suspects that the Pope does truly believe that endless amounts of money can be conjured out of nothing.)

191.A decrease in production and consumption can lead to new forms of developments. (Yep, more of the slums like the ones the Pope used to visit in Buenos Aires.)

192.The Pope describes his ideal economy which has zero chance of realization.

193.Contain economic growth by setting “reasonable limits” (By whom?), and even retracing our steps. (If Pol Pot hadn’t kicked the bucket in 1998, PopeWatch would wonder if he had a hand in writing this section.)

194.The Pope wants a root and branch transformation on the economy away from profit. Once again, the Pope and Real World economics are not on speaking terms.

195.Those who think economies are about profits are wrong.

196.The Pope turns to politics.

197.A healthy politics agrees with what the Pope wants to do.

198.Politics and economics should cooperate. (Heavens no! Real disasters result when politicians and businessmen are singing from the same hymnal.)

We will conclude on Thursday.

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2 Responses to PopeWatch: Encyclical Translated: Part IV

Michael Paterson-Seymour on Wednesday, June 24, A.D. 2015 at 6:10am

Perhaps, the Holy Father (or his advisers) have been reading Slavoj Žižek, who has suggested a 4-point plan for addressing climate change

“What is demanded is:

– strict egalitarian justice (all people should pay the same price in eventual renunciations, i.e., one should impose the same world-wide norms of per capita energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, etc.; the developed nations should not be allowed to poison the environment at the present rate, blaming the developing Third World countries, from Brazil to China, for ruining our shared environment with their rapid development);

– terror (ruthless punishment of all who violate the imposed protective measures, inclusive of severe limitations of liberal “freedoms,” technological control of the prospective law-breakers);

– voluntarism (the only way to confront the threat of the ecological catastrophe is by means of large-scale collective decisions which will run counter the “spontaneous” immanent logic of capitalist development – it is not the question of helping the historical tendency or necessity to realize itself, but to “stop the train” of history which runs towards the precipice of global catastrophe;

– and, last but not least, all this combined with the trust in the people (the wager that the large majority of the people support these severe measures, see them as their own, and are ready to participate in their enforcement). One should not be afraid to assert, as a combination of terror and trust in the people, the reactivation of one of the figures of all egalitarian-revolutionary terror, the “informer” who denounces the culprits to the authorities.”

173.Calls for some global authority to impose global regulations. This should be done by agreement among the nations of the Earth.

174.A global authority for the oceans.

175.A global authority to tame the nasty free markets.

177.Ramp up the nanny states to impose rules for our own good.”

…………………………………………………………….

Darn that Pius XI with his thoughts on the evils of violating the Principles of Subsidiarity…
So much of this is “from the top down” that it defies the very concept of subsidiarity.

cthemfly25
cthemfly25
Wednesday, June 24, AD 2015 12:05pm

PZ—your comment struck me as odd, especially the Burke reference. All of us analyze things quite differently owing to our backgrounds, experience, etc (though I know nothing of yours) and this is perhaps a poor reflection on me….certainly not you. So this is not personal. I think the encyclical misses the mark by a wide margin, and instead of “interconnectedness” I see dissonance While Donald is doing the hard work of summarizing the encyclical, it might also be helpful to step back and take broader view.

The encyclical starts with false premises—several of the scientific sort including, but not limited, to the assertion of a “solid scientific consensus”. Scientific consensus is far different than a vox populi consensus. There is no scientific consensus about global warming and in fact the EPA, as directed by the Administration, realizing that the science does not support the hoax, now officially uses the phrase “climate change.” And, the idea of climate as a “common good” per the encyclical is difficult to comprehend perhaps owing to my limited capacity to grasp what someone could otherwise explain to me is a theological or philosophical term of art. The letter is built on the sand of false premises and that alone should be troubling. It was wrong to do that…to place the Church in this untenable position. Look around the Catholic blogosphere and you will see otherwise sharp, intellectual men and women tying themselves in knots while trying to justify the rest of the encyclical as they applaud the occasional doctrinal acknowledgment. It’s a shame really what the Pope has done.

The encyclical later calls for dialogue between science and religion, and dialogue of politics and economy. That should have been done before making the pseudo scientific, and ideological political and economic assertions, and before advocating for a world wide governing body to distribute wealth and do something about CO2. In fact, we have known for quite some time that the Vatican PAS, while inviting the likes of Sachs and Schellenhuber (sp) rejected input from so called “doubters”.

The encyclical rallies the liberation theologists. it pits poor against rich, northern hemisphere vs southern. It slanders without nuance business and industry. It uses the word capitalism with palpable disdain instead of free enterprise as Pope John Paul so beautifully wrote about in Centissimus Annus. It rejects the notion of private property as an natural right as discussed by Pope Leo XIII and it at the very least ignores subsidiarity (which in a way is a Burkean ideal). It separates itself from much of the Church’s rich social teachings. It cites Teilhard, a man described as favorably disposed toward eugenics. He does cite Guardini but without a due regard for the depth of his teachings. In fact, the encyclical reads in some parts like a poorly written legal brief—one in which the argument is first made, and then searches for authoritative support of some kind….and not always succeeding.

Logic is offended and clear reasoning did not pay a visit, but that’s what happens when an “argument” is built on false premises. Fossil fuels are evil but then what…… Other than a brief mention of communism there is no acknowledgment of the role of poverty and communism (which is simply government mandated poverty—which in turn is what the Pope calls for) on the degradation of the environment. And yet he knows the answer to our woes—the establishment an uber state, a world governing body run by agreement of all countries and which would be occupied by the very abortionists and elitists and technocrats (ironic given his musings on technology) who have been summoned to help write this encyclical.

Finally, and this is important. This document has been hyped for nearly two years. It’s timing is intended toward a bigger agenda both external and internal to the Church. The Pope’s cabal will be using this document in the Synod as a teaching tool on the “family”, namely regarding reproduction and birth rates. It will be used in the UN and it will be used in our own, and against our own, domestic political polity. This is foreseen if not planned IMHO and not collateral. Pay attention to the synod, to the participants and to those being appointed by the Pope to serve. It’s my understanding that Cardinal Burke is not eligible now to automatically participate but can only serve at the invitation of the Pope. Pell is under attack. But Bishop Bonny will participate and Kasper’s “proposals” are still a part of the agenda. Soon too you will be seeing in those diocese in league with the papal agenda, preaching and teaching on the “ecological virtues”, the sacrament of earth, and other related stuff.

Pray.

Don L
Don L
Wednesday, June 24, AD 2015 2:32pm

Oops, looks like I pasted (what I wanted to save) in the wrong place, earlier.

cthemfly25, that was a great summary and a bold position to take. I suspected much the same as your predictions.
I appreciate your skills, even though your well-stated truth makes me uncomfortable–as truth often does to the faithful….for a while anyway.
You’re so right about praying.

Cthemfly25
Cthemfly25
Wednesday, June 24, AD 2015 6:53pm

Don L– I have been troubled by the papal utterances since the exhortation. We were told that his utterances were stylistic. I did not agree. We were told to read what he actually said, and I did and did not find his comments innocent but rather revealing. A couple of years ago the Pope “revealed” the existence of a homosexual lobby inside the Vatican. Since then were seen the appointment of a homosexualist priest, Radcliffe, to the Peace and Justice council, the appointment of a Chilean priest to Bishop under a cloud heavy with evidence of homosexuality,the appointment of Koch, a Kasperite, to bishop of Berlin and who will likely be a cardinal in time for the synod, the “resurrection” of Guiterez, father of liberation theology, and many more that escape my memory or ability to keep up—I have to work for a living. And yet, many of those we rely upon in the Catholc blogosphere for information refuse to acknowledge the big picture.

I came across a writing by Cardinal Newman about the Arian heresy (it may have been linked through Peter Skojec’s site, 1Peter 5). It was a fascinating read. I knew the Church was reduced to but a few bishops who would defend against this heresy. But what I didn’t know was that it had been the laity who with faithful priests continued the Faith outside of the church buildings. They rejected the bishops. And so too did something similar occur in reformation England. I mention this because perhaps we are being called, the laity, in a very real way to lead the reform and to save the Chirch. We have taken things for granted. We must pray for the Pope but we must pray for discernment and strength and fortitude to rebuke what is surely taking place through this encyclical and through the synod and through the bishop’s conference. Christ’s Peace be with all of us.

Bob

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Thursday, June 25, AD 2015 2:33am

Jimmy Carter redux!

Don L
Don L
Thursday, June 25, AD 2015 7:28am

Cthemfly25
It is time to gird our loins…and yes, discern, admonish, and perhaps lo lose some good friends over our attempt to save souls. Despair won’t work. We, need to go forth, for the sheep sometimes have to make enouh noise as to wake the shepherds and let them know the wolves are running rampant.

Ernest Martinson
Ernest Martinson
Friday, June 26, AD 2015 7:03pm

Certainly housing problems are created by government. The Great Recession developed from government support of housing. The Federal Reserve’s artificial low interest rates set off the housing bubble. This was aided and abetted by the government sponsored enterprises of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that bought and bundled mortgages. This was a moral hazard since the market assumed Freddie and Fannie were backed by government and government was backed by taxpayers. Then there is the mortgage interest deduction from income taxes that encourages over investment in housing. All these problems and more could be eliminated by eliminating the Fed, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the income tax.

Don ?
Don ?
Saturday, June 27, AD 2015 4:13am

Earnest, The problem with eliminating the income tax is that will shift the burden of taxation from those who aren’t making any income; namely, the poor, and the retired homeowner. Why? Because taxing is not the problem. Spending is, and until we have a way to stop politicians from buying votes government over-spending will continue.
On the other hand, once the brave new UN one-government world comes in, they will have no need to buy votes and with goods and resources under their control(after the guns are taken away) all will humbled by the super-state. It’s the real slave master.
I fear this great coming convergence of Obama, the UN and the pope’s encyclical will spawn this disaster.

Don ?
Don ?
Saturday, June 27, AD 2015 4:15am

That should have been shift the burden “to” the poor etc.

Ernest Martinson
Ernest Martinson
Saturday, June 27, AD 2015 5:27am

Don ? The problem with ending the Fed and the income tax, both beginning in 1913, is that it would end the funding of the welfare/warfare state. That is why both Democrats and Republicans want to retain the Fed and the income tax. They just fight over their relative share of welfare.
The poor would do very well with sharing the value of the earth through an earth dividend similar but bigger than Alaska’s oil dividend. The government would collect the rent on those who now own the earth, retain enough for a minimal oppressive government, and distribute the remainder equally to each adult. Other than the dividend, there would be no subsidies such as go now to farmers, energy companies, and offense (defense) companies.

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