Mercy for the earth, mercy for ourselves
Last week, Pope Francis proved true to his namesake and his own emerging legacy: he proposed adding care for the environment to the traditional list of works of mercy.
The Catholic Church has long advocated for spiritual and corporal works of mercy, most of which stem from Jesus’ exhortations in Matthew 25:34–40. While some Protestants are allergic to the word works, the works of mercy are part of the DNA of Catholic social thought. James Keenan, a Jesuit, defines mercy as “the willingness to enter into the chaos of others.” Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement built on a foundation of the works of mercy, and many an artist has portrayed humanity hard at work showing mercy.
While I for one would be strongly in favor of an update to Caravaggio’s Seven Works of Mercy in which someone is installing an energy-saving light bulb, this latest work of mercy doesn't really need art to explain it. We’re all familiar with the practices Francis refers to—using less plastic, taking care not to waste food, keeping an eye on those thermostats, and (for God’s sake) turning the lights off when we leave the room. Adding the environment to a list of ills is the modernist’s civic duty. And no one following in the footsteps of St. Francis could fail to speak on behalf of the natural world and those who depend on it most.
