b'ONETWOThe pope is the message. The language is simple.The encyclical is significant because ofThe popes witness in Laudato si is conveyed Pope Francis himself. In so many ways,through language that is direct and easy to Pope Francis is the message. This is a manunderstand, without complicated images. who seeks to live the gospel in a visibleExamples include the following:and unmistakable way. He embraces the migrants who washed up on the shores ofThe earth, our home, is beginning Lampedusa and Lesbos, he eschews theto look more and more like an traditional Vatican trappings of luxury, heimmense pile of filth (21).lives in the Vatican guest house rather than alone in the papal apartment, he traveled the United States in a small Fiat rather thanWho turned the wonder world of a large SUV like other foreign dignitaries. Inthe seas into underwater cemeteries street parlance, he walks the talk. bereft of color and life? (41, quoting the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines).We are not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature (43).The encyclical is full of direct, pithy language that stirs our imaginations and consciences. This type of language is new in Catholic magisterial documents and teaching. 8 AspireVolume 1//Winter 2020 Subscribe today! smp.org/aspire'