Pope has spoken of his 'integral ecology' paradigm - is this a plausible position?

Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - Other International Politics Topics, grade: 1.0, University of Edinburgh (School of Social and Political Sciences), course: Politics in a Changing World, language: English, abstract: In 2015, Pope Francis published his with huge interest expected and frequently discussed encyclical letter Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home (O'Neill 2016; Spina 2015). In his proclamation to respect and fight for our common planet, Pope Francis introduces the term 'integral ecology'. The overall aim of this paradigm is to demonstrate the sheer impossibility of separating social from ecological problems, e.g. in the case of climate change or tremendous social inequality. Therefore, Pope Francis dismantles the terminology ecology into three different components: Firstly, environmental, economic and social ecology; secondly, cultural ecology and thirdly, the ecology of daily life. Furthermore, he highlights that the principles of the common good and of justice between the generations go hand in hand with these components (Laudato Si). In the following, I will discuss the plausibility of this paradigm by classifying it into different contexts. Firstly, the integral ecology paradigm will be set in the broader context of encyclicals and Catholic Church s social teaching. Secondly, parallels to other religions and theoretical approaches will be drawn to demonstrate that this paradigm is neither unique nor strictly bound to (religious) faith. Finally, I will discuss the historical context in which the encyclical letter was being published and the paradigm s inseparability from the figure of Pope Francis. The essay briefly concludes with a forecast of the practical applicability of the paradigm. Integral ecology inside the Catholic ChurchPope Francis is deeply convinced that an ecological approach necessarily becomes a social approach. Therefore, it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor (Laudato Si, 49, highlighted in original). Repeatedly, Pope Francis stresses his conviction, constituting a binding element within Laudato Si. He thus lays the foundation for the first document of the Catholic Church dealing entirely with environmental issues (Spina 2015, p.579). This is of special importance when one looks more closely at what encyclicals are. They address all bishops of the world to spread the teachings within their dioceses (Jayabalan 2014, p.58). The teachings themselves are theological and philosophical reflections of the Catholic Church (ibid., p.60) about wide-ranging themes and need to be universal (ibid., p.59)