Some Christians were upset at the address Pope Francis gave to the joint session of Congress, hoping he would bring up the glaring contradictions between the promise of life and liberty and the practice in contemporary American culture, but even they should have been heartened by his bold address to the world at the General Assembly of the United Nations. This was his forum for speaking to the nations of the world and he told the world truths it needed to hear. (I did not share their concerns about the address to Congress.)

Francis adeptly used the framework of the global concern for the environment and the upcoming summit on sustainable development goals  to address what the Catholic Church refers to as a human ecology. In addition to affirming our obligations as stewards of the gift of creation, the Church insists that we are also the stewards of the gift of mankind.

As St. John Paul II put it, “Not only has God given the earth to man, who must use it with respect for the original good purpose for which it was given to him, but man too is God’s gift to man. He must therefore respect the natural and moral structure with which he has been endowed.” In Benedict XVI’s words, “The deterioration of nature is in fact closely connected to the culture that shapes human coexistence: when ‘human ecology’ is respected within society, environmental ecology also benefits.”

This is what is behind the reference to what Francis called a “true right of the environment.” Contrary to some media reports claiming that the Pope had manufactured a new “right,” the phrase is in quotes in the text itself. It’s in quotes because it only makes sense in reference to the human person, because only human persons can have rights. In Francis’s words, “any harm done to the environment, therefore, is harm done to humanity.”

He didn’t always use the term, but throughout the address he stressed the necessity of respecting this human ecology. Everyone recognizes the pollution of our air and water, but much of the world does not see the pollution of our society and culture.

Francis spoke strongly in defense of religious freedom as a fundamental human right and of other civil rights, noting that all “these pillars of integral human development have a common foundation, which is the right to life.” With much needed clarity, he declared that every nation must recognize the “existence of a moral law written into human nature itself, one which includes the natural difference between man and woman and absolute respect for life in all its stages and dimensions.”

Jesus Still Walks Our Streets

Then, on Friday evening, he gave a beautiful example of preaching the Gospel to the city in his homily at the Mass in Madison Square Garden. He told the faithful: “Knowing that Jesus still walks our streets, that he is part of the lives of his people, that he is involved with us in one vast history of salvation, fills us with hope.”

He addressed the existential questions which can arise in the hearts of men and women who live in the city, such as “How do we encounter God, who lives with us amid the smog of our cities? How do we encounter Jesus, alive and at work in the daily life of our multicultural cities?”  Then he gave the answer: “In Jesus, God himself became Emmanuel, God-with-us, the God who walks alongside us, who gets involved in our lives, in our homes, in the midst of our ‘pots and pans,’ as Saint Teresa of Jesus liked to say.”

As a good pastor, Francis spoke of the love of the Father, making reference to the biblical story of the prodigal son, reminding the faithful that “no one or anything can separate us from his Love. Go out and proclaim, go out and show that God is in your midst as a merciful Father who himself goes out, morning and evening, to see if his son has returned home and, as soon as he sees him coming, runs out to embrace him.”

This homily of God’s love and grace came after his visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels school in East Harlem. Obviously moved by the children in this inner city school, he told them, “Here I see you smiling. Keep smiling and help bring joy to everyone you meet. Because Jesus is joy, and he wants to help us to feel that joy every day of our lives.” He warned them that “the devil is always sowing sadness, because he doesn’t want us to be happy. He doesn’t want us dreaming. But where there’s joy, Jesus is present.”

Next, he will be in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families. Expect him to shake things up in Philadelphia. This is what he does. He cannot be fit into easy molds, politically or spiritually.

When he addressed the young in Brazil during the World Youth Day in 2013, he told them, “I want the noise to go out, I want the Church to go out onto the streets, I want us to resist everything worldly, everything static, everything comfortable, everything to do with clericalism, everything that might make us closed in on ourselves.” Stay tuned for some noise in Philadelphia.