The encyclical letter Laudato Si is available here on the Vatican website. Pope Francis praises social movements: boycotts, associations, shared commitments. Do you? Do you participate in such?
206. A change in lifestyle could bring healthy pressure to bear on those who wield political, economic and social power. This is what consumer movements accomplish by boycotting certain products. They prove successful in changing the way businesses operate, forcing them to consider their environmental footprint and their patterns of production. When social pressure affects their earnings, businesses clearly have to find ways to produce differently. This shows us the great need for a sense of social responsibility on the part of consumers. “Purchasing is always a moral – and not simply economic – act”.[Caritas in Veritate 66] Today, in a word, “the issue of environmental degradation challenges us to examine our lifestyle”.[Pope Benedict XVI, Message for the 2010 World Day of Peace, 11: AAS 102 (2010), 48]
Good words from the pope emeritus, too. Do you agree?
I don’t believe you know where this is headed. Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth; and even in free America, rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected.
Well, none of us can predict the future. This is true. I don’t perceive a large demand for a mandated Sunday observance, whatever that might be. Businesses will stay open unless they choose not to. Liberty of conscience has a mixed application these days. As it always has.