This morning, in his much anticipated address to the General Assembly of the United Nations, Pope Francis placed himself within the context of that august body’s relationship with the Holy See. He made explicit mention of the visits to the UN’s General Assembly of the blessed Pope Paul VI in 1965, Pope St. John Paul II in 1979 and 1995, and Pope Benedict XVI in 2008. 

Takeaway one: In doing so, he presented himself as the 266^th successor of Saint Peter and the sovereign head of the Holy See. He desired to continue the Church’s dialogue with the world.

Like his predecessors, Pope Francis wanted to honor the work of the United Nations, which he believes stands in the service of a political anthropology close to his heart and intellect. This vision of the human person radically affirms man’s communal nature. In both Cuba and Washington, D.C., the pope promoted social friendship and the culture of the encounter as two fruits of this affirmation.

Takeaway two: We must oppose a view of the human person that reduces him to a cog in a collective machine or isolates him from community as an atomic individual.  

This vision of man, the pope contends, commits the leaders of the world, and indeed all persons of goodwill, to a common moral task that rises above what he called “declarationist nominalism.” 

Such a project of practical action works for peace in the world and the advancement of the common good. It promotes the integral development of the whole human person, which safeguards his material and spiritual, personal and communal good.

Takeaway three: We are called to concrete service to the truth about man and the common good. It is not enough to settle for conversations that prove fruitless.

But, the pope cautioned that our actions towards these lofty goals must be bounded by the moral code written on the human heart and checked by the nature of the human person. When we deviate from morality and nature, the pope asserts, we abuse creation. We end up mining and exploiting the world by way of an ideological colonization that recognizes no authority above ourselves.

While the pope offered many and various particular policy recommendations, we would be ill advised to focus on these to the exclusion of the bold theological and spiritual vision he proposed today. Rather, we can understand those recommendations only when we interpret them in light of the pope’s understanding of the human person, society, and the common good.

Takeaway four: While we seek together to do charitable work in the world, striving for the advancement of all people, the promotion of the common good, and man’s integral development, we must adhere to the truth about the dignity of man. To act contrary to that truth is not only to render a disservice to ourselves, but to assault creation.

When we interpret the pope’s particular policy recommendations in light of his broader theological and spiritual vision, we begin to understand better something about the pope’s environmental messaging. He says that a true right to the environment exists for all. Yet, and note well, this leads him to present a vision of ecology that is at the service of the culture of life and the civilization of love founded on the family.

Takeaway five: The pope approaches the global environmental crisis, not as a symptom of troublesome weather patterns, but as an avenue -- a platform, if you will -- by which to carry the Gospel of Life and the Family into the hearts of secular and post-modern man.