God's Tenderness in all Creatures: the Fundamental Thought of the Encyclical of Pope Francis "Laudato Sì"

Abstract

Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato sì“, published in 2015, is a
landmark of contemporary doctrinal teaching on creation. The paper
summarizes the basic concepts of the text in seven steps. The starting
point is an outline of urgent challenges Christian theology on
creation faces at the dawn of 21st century. Against this background,
the second step expounds the theological and pastoral objective
of the encyclical. Hence, the next step elucidates the relationship
between contemporary “signs of the times” and doctrinal teaching
in the encyclical. The fourth step outlines the Pope’s concept of a
comprehensive approach to the outstanding challenges in economy,
politics and environment. On this line, the fifth step sketches the
Pope’s criticism of the so-called “technocratic paradigm”. While the
sixth step expounds his conception of the fundamental link and
universal solidarity of all creatures, the final step exposes the notion
of God’s “tenderness” which is crucial for the Pope’s theological
reasoning on creation and his spirituality.