Table of Contents
Introduction ix
Chapter 1 Care for Creation 1
The Gift of Creation 1
Human Ecology 2
Cultivating and Caring 3
Taking Care of Creation 5
Caring for One Another 6
The Future of the World's Garden 8
Fulfilling a Plan of Love 9
The Supreme Good of Life 11
Creation, Gift of Peace for All 12
Chapter 2 Degrading Our Common Home 14
Irreversible Damage to the Ecosystem 14
The Climate under Threat 15
The Abuse and Destruction of the Environment 16
The Human Environment and the Natural Environment 18
The Relation between Nature and Society 19
The Deterioration of Institutions 20
The Distortion of Technology 21
The Poor, Victims of Environmental Degradation 22
Chapter 3 Ethical Failure 24
A Time of Permanent Inequality 24
The Scandal of Hunger 25
Hunger for Dignity 28
The Idolatry of Profits 29
A Culture of Encounter 31
Unacceptable Waste 33
Imbalance in Consumption 34
Chapter 4 This Economy Kills 36
An Economy of Exclusion 36
The Invisible Tyranny 38
The Fetishism of Money 41
The Distortion of the Marketplace 42
Ensuring Economic Freedom 43
Money Must Serve, Not Rule 44
An Economy at the Service of the People 45
An Honest Economy 48
Solidarity 49
Inequality, the Root of Social Ills 51
Chapter 5 The Globalization of Indifference 53
Insensibility to the Suffering of the Other 53
The World of the Excluded 54
Abandoned to the Laws of Economy 55
The Cry of the Poor 55
The Cry of the Earth 57
The Spread of Inequality 58
Cultivating Justice 59
The Temptation of a False Peace 61
Chapter 6 Redefining Progress 62
We Need a Change 62
Process of Change 64
For a Better World 65
Looking for Progress in a New Way 66
Interaction between the State and the People 67
Far-sighted Politics 68
Chapter 7 The Search for the Common Good 70
The Principle of the Common Good 70
Welfare and the Common Good 71
Building Bridges 73
The Earth and the Common Good 75
Working for the Rights of All 75
Thinking about Future Generations 77
Chapter 8 Toward a Culture of Integral Ecology 79
Defending Mother Earth 79
A Far-reaching Vision 80
Ecological Education 81
Lifestyles for Changing the World 84
Ecological Conversion 87
Chapter 9 Constructing the Human City 90
God Lives in Our Cities 90
The Defense of Dignity 93
Serving the Person, Not the Ideology 94
Touching Human Misery 96
Poverty Teaches Solidarity 97
The Responsibility of Believers 98
We Need Each Other 99
Universal Fraternity 99
Chapter 10 The Spiritual Dimension of Life 102
The World at Risk 102
Quality of Life 103
Sharing with Others 103
Welcoming Others 104
Healing Fundamental Relationships 105
Keeping Hope Alive 106
A Revolution of Tenderness 109
