Blogging the Pope’s Encyclical: Praise Be

Where do we start with a document as vast and thought-through as Pope Francis' "Praise Be?"

With listening, I think.

Try this, from the Vatican's translation into English, section 11:

If we approach nature and the environment without this openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously. The poverty and austerity of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but something much more radical: a refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be used and controlled.

Offers an excuse to republish yet another awe-worthy shot from the US Dept of the Interior's Twitter feed…the Great Smoky Mountains, which, yes, are not "an object to be used and controlled."