America, listen to Pope Francis this summer

Letters to the editor11:05 p.m. CDT May 19, 2015





(Photo: TIZIANA FABI / AFP/Getty Images)

EDITOR: This coming September, Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church is coming to the United States to participate in three major events: to Philadelphia for an international conference on the family; to Washington, D.C. to address a joint session of Congress and visit the White House; and to New York to address the General Assembly of the United Nations. And before all of the above, a pilgrimage to Cuba.

From the disintegration of the family to planetary warfare, the pope will have much to say. Perhaps his fundamental theme will be what he calls the "globalization of indifference," our need to extend divine mercy to human persons who have been marginalized, kept in poverty by the marketing mechanisms of planetary capitalism.

Before the pope's arrival in the U.S., we will have an opportunity to read an apostolic letter on the global environs we share with one another, in which our lives are so deeply embedded. Often going by the words "global warming" and "climate change," this document, the product of much study, is presently in the hands of translators and printers, to be distributed in June.

Many of us have waited decades for this kind of prophetic papacy, its impact just beginning to be felt in our daily lives.

Ray Stroik,

Stevens Point

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