P ope Francis’s ecological muse in his 2015 encyclical on climate change and inequality is also his namesake. The pope begins his letter with lines from a canticle attributed to the long departed friar from Assisi. The saint is the first to evoke our human sisterhood with the feminized figure of our planet.1 But the pope’s subsequent admonishments are contemporary, and his own: “This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her” (§2). Our violation of her gendered body—to her detriment, as well as our own—is the central subject of the pope’s lamentation. And it is the figure of Saint Francis, filled with a love for all creatures, who models another possible world for the pope. Saint Francis, however, is a complex figure. One can see, in his passionate love for other creatures, the flicker of a desire to convert and domesticate them. The creatures who populate the body of this feminized sister Earth are also conscripted for the Father’s kingdom. The pope marvels at the saint’s commitment to commune with other creatures—one that even drew him to preach to the flowers, calling them to praise his Lord (§11). While this certainly illustrates the nature and extent of the saint’s connection with the nonhuman, it also (as I have put it elsewhere) illuminates in him “the glimmer of a missionary evangelist to another continent.”2 It is not merely the case that Saint Francis tells us (the humans) that these flowers reveal the glory of the Lord.

中文翻译：

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宗教生物多样性与我们共同的家园

普普·弗朗西斯（Pope Francis）在他2015年关于气候变化和不平等的百科全书中的生态缪斯也是他的名字。教皇的信开头是一封信，开头是阿西西（Assisi）早已离开的修道士。圣人是第一个以女性化的地球形象唤起我们人类姊妹关系的人。1但是教皇随后的告诫是当代的，还有他自己的告诫：“由于我们受到的伤害，这位姐姐现在向我们哭泣不负责任地使用和滥用上帝赋予她的商品”（第2节）。我们对她的两性身体的侵犯（对她和我们自己都是有害的）是教皇哀叹的中心主题。圣弗朗西斯（Saint Francis）的雕像充满了对所有生物的爱，为教皇塑造了另一个可能的世界。但是，圣弗朗西斯是一个复杂的人物。有人能看见，在他对其他生物的热爱中，闪烁着转化和驯化它们的渴望。在这个女性化的姊妹地球上居住的生物也被征召为父国。教皇对圣人与其他生物交流的承诺赞叹不已，甚至还吸引了他向花朵讲道，称呼他们赞美他的主（§11）。虽然这肯定说明了圣徒与非人类的联系的性质和程度，但也（正如我在其他地方所说的）在他身上照亮了“传教士传教士向另一大陆的微弱光芒。” 2弗朗西斯告诉我们（人类）这些花揭示了主的荣耀。在这个女性化的姊妹地球上居住的生物也被征召为父国。教皇对圣人与其他生物交流的承诺赞叹不已，甚至还吸引了他向花朵讲道，称呼他们赞美他的主（§11）。虽然这肯定说明了圣徒与非人类的联系的性质和程度，但也（正如我在其他地方所说的）在他身上照亮了“传教士传教士向另一大陆的微弱光芒。” 2弗朗西斯告诉我们（人类）这些花揭示了主的荣耀。在这个女性化的姊妹地球上居住的生物也被征召为父国。教皇对圣人与其他生物交流的承诺赞叹不已，甚至还吸引了他向花朵讲道，称呼他们赞美他的主（§11）。虽然这肯定说明了圣徒与非人类的联系的性质和程度，但也（正如我在其他地方所说的）在他身上照亮了“传教士传教士向另一大陆的微弱光芒。” 2弗朗西斯告诉我们（人类）这些花揭示了主的荣耀。