Twin Cities Catholics React To The Pope's Encyclical
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Pope Francis released his encyclical "Laudato Si" Thursday, and Minnesota Catholics are starting to weigh in on the document.
Jason Adkins is the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference. During a round table discussion Thursday, he says there was a lot of talk about what the pope is asking of people.
"We talked about the importance of what the pope calls everyone undergoing an ecological conversion," Adkins said.
In a wide-ranging environmental manifesto, Pope Francis called for a bold cultural revolution to correct what he described as a "perverse" economic system where the rich exploit the poor and turn the world into what he called an "immense pile of filth."
Adkins says it could be challenging for people to make some of the changes needed.
"I like a cool house and a hot shower, but we are all going to need to change our personal habits, and then work together as a community to deal with some of the most pressing issues of our time," he said.
The pope blamed global warming on an unfair industrial model based on fossil fuels, and said it harms the poor the most.
