I have decided to resurrect the nature blog. There are certainly many fascinating things happening in nature and science these days! This post will not be about American chestnuts as promised in the last entry, however. Perhaps later we will have a chestnut post. Get it, a chestnut post?!
Let's move on.
Some of the biggest nature news lately is the upcoming papal encyclical on climate change. This made me ask, what is an encyclical and how is it different from the papal bulls that we heard about in history class.
Well, I looked it up and an encyclical is a circulating letter written by the pope to bishops, archbishops, etc. Pope Francis said that this letter will be to all good people of the world though in addition to the clergy. Sometimes an encyclical is written to end a theological debate.
When talking about older documents, a bull is a somewhat nonspecific term for a document from the pope. These were first written on round metal plates that reminded people of boiling bubbles. Later, they had affixed lead seals. Modern papal bulls may or may not have the metal seals. Modern papal bulls are the most formal documents currently issued by the Vatican.
It will be interesting to hear what Pope Francis says tomorrow. He often seems to model and teach Christlike behavior.
In other news, I am reading two science/ nature books this summer and hope to report here on them. One is on sharks!
PS- I don't know how to make that white background above go away. Sorry.
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