In the early 2000s, I spent two years working for the Peace Corps, teaching subsistence farmers modern beekeeping practices to produce honey for consumption and sale. Despite the time and distance, I have continued to maintain close relationships with many of the desperately poor people with whom I worked. Because of my experience abroad—living first for years first in Paraguay and then Senegal, West Africa—I have long maintained a nagging sense that modern Western culture has a general apathy toward...

Alejandro Chafuen, member of the Board of Directors of the Acton Institute, discusses the theology, science, and political impact of Pope Francis’ environmental statements: Although the Pope writes and speaks as he is not an expert on bio-technology—allowing for differences of opinion—when he speaks about political economic topics he does it with conviction and certainty. Like other Church documents, this one again cautions that “on many concrete issues the Church has no reason to propose a final word” and that...

Pope Francis’ new encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si, is generating discussion across the web. For a round-up of responses and reactions from Acton, see Acton Speaks on the Environment. There’s plenty left to explore, respond, and reflect on, but in the meantime, it’s worth noting an interesting parallel with another great Catholic thinker (as passed along by a friend of mine). The beginning of the environmental encyclical leads off with the following statement about Earth being our “sister”: LAUDATO...

The editors at The Stream put together this list of 11 things aboutLaudato Sithat probably won’t be in the headlines: (1) Creation has a Creator, and is more than just “nature-plus-evolution”: (75) A spirituality which forgets God as all-powerful and Creator is not acceptable. That is how we end up worshiping earthly powers, or ourselves usurping the place of God, even to the point of claiming an unlimited right to trample his creation underfoot. The best way to restore men...

The release of Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical raises questions about who has been advising him on global warming, says Catherine Snow in this week’s Acton Commentary, especially since some of the advisers are decidedly on the wrong side of Catholic teaching. Let’s begin with economist Jeffrey Sachs, a prominent supporter of abortion and population control, who was invited to speak at a conference on climate change at the Vatican. And does it bother anyone else, for instance, that Pope Francis...

Theologian Wayne Grudem has teamed up with economist Barry Asmus to write a book on poverty entitled The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution. On this edition of Radio Free Acton, we explore the fundamentals of growth and human flourishing, and how Christians should understand economics and aid. You can listen via the audio player below. ...

When Pope Francis releases his encyclical tomorrow there is a group of Christians that will be eager to respond: American evangelicals. Rather than responding based on what we read in the headlines, says Spence Spencer, evangelicals should read the encyclical in light of historic Roman Catholic teaching: Whatever the content of the new encyclical is, we must read it in concert with previous teachings of the Church.Laudato Siwill not undermine the Catholic Church’s basic teachings about the value of human...

Kishore Jayabalan, director of the Acton Insitute’s Rome office – Istituto Acton – has issued the following statement today regarding Pope Francis’s much-awaited enviromental encyclicalLaudato Si’.Among other things, Jayabalannotes: “[Francis] seems to blame markets, over-consumption and especially finance, rather than human sin, for all our environmental problems.” I appreciate and e Pope Francis’s encyclical,Laudato Si’, which challenges us to re-examine how we treat the earth and each other. These are non-negotiables for Catholics and there is much we can do...

In a lecture on markets and monasticism at Acton University, Dylan Pahman gave a fascinating overview and analysis of the interaction between Christian monasticism and markets. He’s written on this before and has a longer paper on the topic as well. In the talk, he highlighted a range of facts and features, from monastic teachings on wealth and poverty to the historical realities of munities and enterprises. Over the centuries, monasteries have contributed a host of products and services to...

Samuel Gregg, director of research at the Acton Institute, spoke with Business Spectator about the economic message of the new encyclical: When you read through the text, you find the free market, and finance in particular, is identified more or less as responsible for many environmental problems, Dr Gregg said. It’s almost a subterranean theme of the encyclical …In many respects it’s a caricature of market economies. Read more at “Pope Delivers Strong Message on Climate Change.” from Business Spectator....