Pope Francis and G.K. Chesterton

We are all looking for clues to the personality and interests of our new Pope Francis, but one possible indicator has so far escaped the notice of the media. Pope Francis seems to be a fan of the English writer G.K. Chesterton—in fact as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he sponsored two major conferences of the Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture. (Latin America was turned on to Chesterton by the great Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, and the Argentinian Chesterton Society has for some years been pressing for Chesterton’s canonization.) Of course, this may just reflect his love of literature in general, rather than a specific devotion to Chesterton, but I hope to find out more in time. In any case, Chesterton’s love of the “common man” matches the new Pope’s evident attitude, as does his solid doctrinal orthodoxy. And Chesterton is also a favourite writer of the Communion and Liberation movement, with which the Pope was once associated. It all fits with what Catholic writer George Weigel has been calling the mood of “evangelical Catholicism” that’s in the air these days. I wonder if we will hear echoes of Distributism in some future social encyclical.

The Guilds

Anthony Esolen has an interesting article on the guilds called "Leo's Guilds a Far Cry from Today's Unions" on the Crisis Magazine website. He writes: "Let us turn at last to the guilds. These were associations of craftsmen in the Middle Ages, centered in towns. They trained boys in manual labor that required much skill: there were guilds for shoemakers, carpenters, weavers, blacksmiths, silversmiths, milliners, masons, glazers, and so forth. The university, in fact, began as a student and faculty union, a guild for scholars...." READ WHOLE ARTICLE. See also two articles on the Guilds by Russell Sparkes on our Economy site.

Ecological conversion

Pope John Paul II, right from the beginning of his papacy, insisted on the importance of the environmental question and called for what he called "ecological conversion" on the part of Catholics. Ecological concern became, with him, an integral part of Catholic social teaching, and his successor, Pope Benedict, had carried on this tradition. These teachings are now enshrined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Further details can be found in the relevant section of our web site. At the beginning of February the Centre for Faith & Culture welcomed Dr Glenn Juday, from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, to give a couple of seminars at the Catholic Chaplaincy and St Benet's Hall, Oxford, on environmental stewardship, and the challenge of educating Catholics on the realities of ecology and the ways in which we can contribute to a more responsible use of creation.

Announcement

Readers may notice I have slowed down on this and my two other blogs. Being seriously ill, I need to devote my remaining energies to paid work. But this blog contains resources that I hope will continue to be useful, and I will continue to write as circumstances permit. For other announcements please go to Second Spring.

World Day of Peace

The Pope pulled no punches when he summarized the essence of his social teaching in his Message for the 46th World Day of Peace. Careful study of the document is recommended. In part he wrote:

5. In many quarters it is now recognized that a new model of development is needed, as well as a new approach to the economy. Both integral, sustainable development in solidarity and the common good require a correct scale of goods and values which can be structured with God as the ultimate point of reference. It is not enough to have many different means and