So, there's a new papal encyclical which has been released for the public to read. Cool. I haven't read it yet, and I'm not going to comment on it yet. I've already seen lots of reactions, but I've trying not to read through any of them yet (I'm linking them here for my own future reference, once I've finished the encyclical in a few days or weeks). I'd rather read the encyclical first, even if it is pretty long (~180 pages), then read some reactions (even if I anticipate that they may be good ones).
One of the more interesting reactions I've seen is from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Constantinople).
But really, I think we'd all be a bit better off if about 99% of the talking heads would just shut up and let us read this thing in peace. Give us all a week or two to read it (not all of us have free time in abundance!), giving it a little fanfare but not trying to spoil it or distort it. For that matter, go read Mortimer J Adler's How to Read a Book, which cautions strongly against reading the secondary sources before reading the primary source. That was when secondary sources were often well-thought-out essays and books, not "beat the deadline" columns and blog posts!
Truth be told, I still haven't really finished the last encyclical, and i also didn't really thoroughly read the one before that. Maybe this can collectively be my summertime leisure (ha!) reading.
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