The encyclical Pope Francis released today was generating a flurry of attention well before most anyone had had the chance to read it. Most of the attention was caused by the subject matter, with both «conservatives» and «liberals» eager to have the Pope on «their side.»
But all the attention on Laudato Si’ — to the extent that it’s bringing about a global dialogue on our «common home» — is just what the Pope says needs to happen.
And it’s what he’s trying to bring about.
He sent the encyclical to his brother bishops with a note, and he has appealed publicly for all people to receive the encyclical with an «open spirit.»
Today, with the document’s release, he’s taken to Twitter. The Pope has some 20 million followers in the nine languages in which he tweets. He generally sends out tweets a few times a week or once a day, which are then retweeted thousands of times.
But already today, he’s sent out a couple dozen tweets, with quotes from the encyclical.
Being able to promote the encyclical through Twitter is undoubtedly one of the occasions in which it is «right to rejoice in these [technological] advances and to be excited by the immense possibilities which they continue to open up before us, for ‘science and technology are wonderful products of a God-given human creativity'» (Laudato Si’, 102).
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See the Pope’s tweets here: https://twitter.com/Pontifex
