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    Pope Benedict XVI's latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, was published on July 7. With the appearance of a new papal document, various factions in the Church, as well as some outside, eagerly attempt to score points on their own behalf. This is particularly true of Caritas in Veritate, since both its length and the variety of its content allow plausible misreadings supported by selective citations.     The 'Progressive' Reading   As everyone should know by now, "progressive" is the term of preference liberals apply to themselves and what they claim for their own. The progressive reading...

President Obama met with Pope Benedict XVI last week at the Vatican. During the meeting, the Pope provided the president with a copy of his new encyclical letter, Caritas In Veritate. Most of the press coverage has focused on the pro-life elements of the treatise and the obvious disagreements between the Church and President Obama over issues such as abortion and embryonic stem-cell research. But it should be noted that the Pope’s encyclical dedicates as much (if not more) time to the issues of globalization and the current economic crisis, and in this respect the Pope and the President are...

Pope Benedict’s new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), may not be the kind of encyclical that everybody needs to read. It is an incremental addition to the Church’s social teaching with the stated purposes of observing the fortieth anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s great social encyclical, Populorum Progressio, and of bringing it up to date with respect to global developments since the 1960’s. Unlike her dogmas of Faith, the Church’s social teaching operates at the intersection of faith, natural law and specific contemporary conditions. As such it is very much part of a larger conversation. Not everyone...

Brian Griffiths, Lord of Fforestfach and vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs International, says Pope Benedict's Caritas in Veritate offers the single best analysis of the current global economic crisis. The language may be dense, but the message is sufficiently rewarding. The encyclical analyses modern capitalism from an ethical and spiritual perspective as well as a technical one. As a result it makes the Government’s White Paper on financial reforms published two days later look embarrassingly one-dimensional and colourless.It is highly critical of today’s global economy but always positive. Its major concern is how to promote human development in the context of...

  Benedict's Third Encyclical: A Summary t | t | t | t     by Dr. Jeff Mirus, July 9, 2009 Pope Benedict’s new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), may not be the kind of encyclical that everybody needs to read. It is an incremental addition to the Church’s social teaching with the stated purposes of observing the fortieth anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s great social encyclical, Populorum Progressio, and of bringing it up to date with respect to global developments since the 1960’s. Unlike her dogmas of Faith, the Church’s social teaching operates at the...

When Pope Benedict XVI's third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, was released on July 7, it sparked world-wide discussion and commentary. Catholic World Report asked a group of leading Catholic intellectuals to reflect on the encyclical, its place in the larger body of Catholic social teaching, and Pope Benedict's vision of a well-ordered and just society.J. Brian Benestad, Francis J. Beckwith, Father Joseph Fessio, S.J., Richard Garnett, Thomas S. Hibbs, Paul Kengor, George Neumayr, Joseph Pearce, Tracey Rowland, Father James V. Schall, and Rev. Robert A. Sirico share their thoughts on Caritas in Veritate, below.  J. Brian Benestad:In 1986 the Congregation...

Newspapers, blogs, talk-shows on radio and television are full of discussion over Pope Benedict XVI's supposed call for a "new world order" or a "one-world government."  These ideas are, however, neither based in reality nor a clear reading of the Pope's latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, the release of which yesterday spawned the heated discussion.The Pope actually speaks directly against a one-world government, and, as would be expected from those who have read his previous writings, calls for massive reform of the United Nations.  Confusion seems to have come from paragraph 67 of the encyclical, which has some choice pull-quotes...

When President Obama meets with Pope Benedict XVI tomorrow, there will be no right-wing Catholic demonstrators upbraiding the pontiff, as they did Notre Dame earlier this year, for conferring the church's legitimacy upon this liberal politician. In fact, whether he is the beneficiary of providence or merely good luck, Obama will have his audience with Benedict just three days after the release of a papal encyclical on social justice that places the pope well to Obama's left on economics. What a delightful surprise it would be for a pope to tell our president that on some matters, he's just too...

ENCYCLICAL LETTERCARITAS IN VERITATE OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS THE LAY FAITHFUL AND ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL ON INTEGRAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN CHARITY AND TRUTHINTRODUCTION1. Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity. Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is...

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson Denver, Colo., Jul 7, 2009 / 03:26 pm (CNA).- The head of the Knights of Columbus, Carl Anderson, has responded to Pope Benedict’s newly-released encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate” (Love in Truth), by denouncing attempts to use it to further political agendas rather than viewing it from the Church’s comprehensive understanding of the human person.In an interview with CNA on Tuesday morning, Carl Anderson, leader of the world’s largest lay Catholic organization, decried the “spin masters who will try to spin the encyclical in one direction or the other” and emphasized that “the Catholic reader should...

The revenge of Justice and Peace (or so they may think). By George Weigel In the often unpredictable world of the Vatican, it was as certain as anything could be in mid-1990 that there would be a 1991 papal encyclical to commemorate the centenary of Rerum Novarum — the 1891 letter of Leo XIII that is rightly regarded as the Magna Carta of modern Catholic social doctrine. The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which imagines itself the curial keeper of the flame of authentic Catholic social teaching, prepared a draft, which was duly sent to Pope John Paul II...

Pope Benedict XVI's third encyclical -- Caritas in Veritate -- arrived today containing 30,468 words: an introduction, six chapters, conclusion, and 159 footnotes. It's not thrilling reading, even by encyclical standards, but as the latest papal statement on the Church's social teaching, "Love in Truth" will be a work of lasting significance.   Those who dig through the document to see whether it leans left or right will be disappointed: There is something here for everybody. For the Left, anxious to set the scene for President Barack Obama's meeting with Benedict in a few days, there are plenty of...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Christian call to love one another and to work for justice requires the active participation in the political process, Pope Benedict XVI said in his new encyclical. "To desire the common good and strive toward it is a requirement of justice and charity," the pope said in his encyclical, "Caritas in Veritate" ("Charity in Truth"). The encyclical, published July 7, said God's love for all his creatures must be mirrored in the way they love and care for one another, engaging in acts of charity and solidarity with respect for the truth that every human...

... to the world at large. Today, at the noontime Angelus, which followed this morning's Pallium Mass, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he had signed his third encyclical, "Charity in Truth." Some apparent excerpts have already been leaked by an Italian newspaper. The encyclical is expected to be released on July 6th or 7th, shortly before President Obama is scheduled to meet with the Holy Father on the afternoon of July 10th. Already there is growing discussion of how the encyclical will play with "liberals" and "conservatives." Such discussion is understandable to some degree, but I'm willing to bet it...

Pope Benedict XVI signed his latest encyclical Monday, a text on ways to make globalization more attentive to meeting the needs of the poor amid the worldwide financial crisis. The document, entitled "Charity in Truth," is expected to be published soon.

Pope Benedict XVI offered a quick preview of his forthcoming social encyclical, and disclosed that it would be issued "soon," during a June 13 audience with members of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation. The Holy Father said that a market economy serves society "only if oriented toward the common good." Moreover, he said, "freedom in the economic sector must be circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality." The Pontiff said that reflections on economics and the common welfare are particularly necessary today in light of the worldwide...

Let's just imagine that you're the Pope. For months now you've been working on an encyclical about Catholic social teaching. The expected publication date has been pushed back several times; evidently you haven't been happy with the early drafts. Just when the project finally seemed near completion, the world economy went into a nosedive, and since the encyclical is devoted largely to a discussion of the global economy, you realized that you'd need to work over the draft once again, to provide some responses to the questions that everyone is now asking. Now at last the encyclical is near completion--...

Now slated for an autumn release, while on tour in the Ukraine the "Vice-Pope" Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone SDB offered a word on B16's third encyclical, the long-expected social manifesto being prepared under the working title Caritas in Veritate ("Charity/Love in the Truth"): In an interview with the APCOM news agency, the Vatican Secretary of State disclosed that the Pope's next encyclical will not be ready for publication before the fall. "The encyclical is still being written," he said. Cardinal Bertone said that Pope Benedict is also working on the second part of his book Jesus of Nazareth. The Pope...

Pope Benedict will soon finish his encyclical on social issues, the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has confirmed. Catholic News Agency reports Cardinal Bertone said the Pope is working on a social encyclical, which he believes will have a "significant impact on the great social and economic problems in the contemporary world". "Pope Benedict will address issues particularly related to the third and the fourth world," Cardinal Bertone said The concept of the "fourth world" was coined by Pope John Paul II in his social encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis in reference to the poor and marginalized living...

Pope Benedict XVI strongly criticized atheism in a major document released Friday, saying it had led to some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" ever known.In his second encyclical, Benedict also critically questioned modern Christianity, saying its focus on individual salvation had ignored Jesus' message that true Christian hope involves salvation for all.The document, titled "Saved by Hope," is a deeply theological exploration of Christian hope: that in the suffering and misery of daily life, Christianity provides the faithful with a "journey of hope" to the Kingdom of God."We must do all we can to overcome...

When Evangelicals ask me why the Church keeps holding up Mary alongside Christ, the best answer I can think of is this: There's one thing that even Jesus cannot do. He cannot show us what a disciple of Jesus looks like. Only a disciple of Jesus can do that. That is exactly what Benedict does at the end of his encyclical. It's easy to say, after this great discourse on Hope, "Looks great on paper. But has anybody ever actually been able to live this?" The Pope's answer is "Here's how it played out in the first disciple's life. It...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, in an encyclical released on Friday, said atheism was responsible for some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" in history. The 75-page "Spe Salvi," which takes its Latin title from a quote by St Paul (in hope we were saved), is an appeal to a pessimistic world to find strength in Christian hope. In the second encyclical of his papacy, Benedict urges Christians to put their hope for the future in God and not in technology, wealth or political ideologies. Atheism could be regarded by some as a "type of...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has completed his second encyclical, a meditation on Christian hope, Vatican sources said. The text, tentatively titled "Spe Salvi" ("Saved by Hope"), is about 65 pages, sources said Oct. 16. No release date has been set for the document. The working title comes from St. Paul's letter to the Romans, in which he wrote: "For in hope we have been saved." The encyclical is said to explore the Christian understanding of hope, with reference to modern philosophy and the challenges of disbelief. The pope worked on the encyclical this summer, when he had...

Federal Social Programs and Catholic PrinciplesOne of the fundamental differences between the “liberal” and “conservative” mentalities, at least in the United States, is the penchant of one for glorifying social programs and the other for glorifying capitalism and a free market system. Over the decades, but particularly today, politicians on both sides court the Catholic vote. The Catholic who votes liberal because of the social programs that are the legacy of 60-plus years of American socialization does so out of a sense of obligation. The argument is that the welfare system and other similar systems promoting social equality are more...

Vatican to release files on Pope Pius XI VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said Friday it will release from its secret archives years of files on Pope Pius XI, whose pontificate spanned most of the period between the world wars. The files cover the period from Feb. 6, 1922, to Feb. 10, 1939. Researchers will be allowed to access the files beginning Sept. 18. In 2003, the Vatican began making available to scholars millions of Vatican documents from the years leading up to World War II, making them available ahead of schedule at the request of Pope John Paul II....

Pope shares thoughts on loveBy Richard N. OstlingThe Associated PressJust in time for Valentine's Day, Pope Benedict XVI issued an encyclical letter on love. Popular prejudice thinks a Roman Catholic priest talking about human love is "like a blind man talking about colors," Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Vatican's council for charity, told reporters with a humorous touch unusual for Vatican news conferences. Turns out, a celibate, 78-year-old pontiff has perceptive things to say in his first encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" ("God Is Love"). Moreover, he says them with a clarity that could begin notable improvement in papal...

ROME, FEB. 9, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's new encyclical on love came as a surprise to most everyone. Some wags commented on the paradox of the "German Shepherd" exclaiming that God is Love. Others are amazed that the erstwhile watchdog of Church doctrine would choose to dedicate so much ink to social teachings. My surprise had nothing to do with this. I was floored when the Holy Father said he was inspired by Dante. During an audience with members of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" on Jan. 23, Benedict XVI introduced the new encyclical saying that the 14th-century Italian poet...

ENCYCLICAL LETTER DEUS CARITAS ESTOF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVITO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS AND ALL THE LAY FAITHFULON CHRISTIAN LOVEINTRODUCTION1. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. In the same verse, Saint John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: “We have come to know and...

Why I chose love as the theme of my first encyclical   Benedict XVI has published his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, God is love. Why did he write it? Why did he choose this theme? What was his intention? The Holy Father responds to these questions in the text below. The cosmic excursion in which Dante wants to involve the reader in his Divine Comedy ends before the everlasting light that is God himself, before that light which at the same time is the love “which moves the sun and the other stars” (Paradise XXXIII, verse 145). Light and...

ROMA, January 25, 2006 – Benedict XVI made his first encyclical public today, and like all papal encyclicals it takes its name from the first words of its Latin version: “Deus Caritas Est,� God is love. Why did he write it? Why did he choose this theme? What was his intention? Pope Joseph Ratzinger himself responds to these questions with crystalline clarity in the text reproduced below. The pope read this text the morning of Monday, January 23, to the participants at an international meeting promoted in the Vatican by the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum.� In reality, it is a...

Creation Reveals God and His Love    POPE BENEDICT XVI God's created works are the first sign of his existence and love, says Benedict XVI. From "the greatness and beauty of created things" one knows, by analogy, their author, the Pope said at today's general audience. He was commenting on Psalm 135(136):1-9, as part of his ongoing series of reflections on biblical passages used in the Liturgy of Vespers. "God does not appear in the Bible as an impassible and implacable Lord, or an obscure and indecipherable being, or fate, against whose mysterious force it is useless to struggle," the...

POPE BENEDICT XVI’s first important pronouncement has been delayed by an unprecedented tussle over the final wording between key Vatican departments and the Pope’s German household staff. Vatican officials said that the delay in publishing the encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, on the subject of love, was because of the Pope’s busy schedule over Christmas. Other Vatican sources said, however, that the reason was a disagreement over the translation of the final 50-page draft into various languages, inclu- ding English and Italian. The official language of encyclicals is Latin. Andrea Tornielli, the Pope’s biographer, said that Pope Benedict had put the...

Love should not be confused with lust, says PopeBy Hilary Clarke in Rome(Filed: 18/01/2006)Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical, expected in the next few days, warns believers not to confuse love with lust or degrade it "to mere sex".   It is Pope Benedict's first encyclical The encyclical, a papal letter to bishops that sets out Roman Catholic policy, discusses the relationship between "eros", or erotic love, and "agape", a Greek word referring to unconditional, spiritual and selfless love."It is not totally negative on eros," a Vatican source said. "It argues that eros under the right circumstances is OK."But the Pope...

Word 'round the campfire is that, contrary to earlier reports which announced a later debut, Deus Caritas Est, the first encyclical letter of Benedict XVI, will be released on Friday, 20 January, a week from today. Prior speculation had said that the first appearance of the document would come in an enhanced edition of the Pauline magazine Famiglia Cristiana on the 25th, the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul and therefore the major feast of the Pauline communities. On the morning of the 20th, according to reports in the Italian press, the traditional presentation press conference will be held...

Pope Benedict XVI may try to "save eros," in the first encyclical of his papacy, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George told the Chicago Sun-Times. George expects the new pope will try to explain that erotic love, eros, and unconditional love, agape, are both inherently good in God's eyes in his encyclical titled "Deus, Caritas Est," Latin for "God is Love." An encyclical is a pope's most authoritative document, a pastoral letter circulated to the universal church. Letter talks about Christ The cardinal has not yet seen Benedict XVI's encyclical, which is expected to be released by the Vatican within days, but...

Pope Benedict's first encyclical due in Dec-sourceVATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict has written his first encyclical, the highest form of papal writing addressed to all members of the Roman Catholic Church, a Vatican source said on Monday. The source said the encyclical, which is expected to be published before the end of the year, deals with one's personal relationship with God. The work is just under 50 pages long and will probably be published to coincide with the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, the source said. The source said the encyclical, written in the Pope's native...

The Pope and the Cause of Freedom by Jeffrey Tucker[Posted October 25, 2001]Ten years ago, Pope John Paul II released Centesimus Annus, an encyclical, at once subtle and sweeping, that addressed the future of the post-communist countries of Europe and the general subjects of freedom, society, and faith. The document represented the fullest embrace that the Catholic Church has given in the modern period to classical liberal ideas, particularly as they apply in the economic sphere. In CA, the Pope argues that socialism failed, not just because it was bad economics, but mainly because it rejected the "truth about ...

Excerpts... 1. "You shall draw waters with joy out of the Savior's fountain." These words by which the prophet Isaias, using highly significant imagery, foretold the manifold and abundant gifts of God which the Christian era was to bring forth, come naturally to Our mind when We reflect on the centenary of that year when Our predecessor of immortal memory, [Blessed] Pius IX, gladly yielding to the prayers from the whole Catholic world, ordered the celebration of the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Universal Church.... 11. There are others who reckon this same devotion burdensome...

Cardinal Invited Protestants to Read Pre-Reformation Writings ROME, MAY 5, 2005 (Zenit.org).- A leading Lutheran in Germany said in 1998 that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, was one of the few who really understood Martin Luther. The Protestant leader's statements were communicated to ZENIT by Sigrid Spath, a German Lutheran, who at times has been Cardinal Ratzinger's interpreter and who, for more than 30 years, has worked in the general curia of the Society of Jesus and collaborates with the Holy See. Spath revealed details of the public meeting she witnessed between the then prefect of the Congregation for...

Help us gauge the historical significance of Pope John Paul II.There are only two possible competitors to John Paul II being the most significant pope since the Reformation: Pius IX in the 19th century, who was also one of the youngest popes ever and reigned for a long, long time. Vatican I and the doctrine of papal infallibility happened under him, along with the loss of the papal states. The other competitor would be John XXIII, and that's just because of Vatican II. But his pontificate was so brief, it was almost like a flare against the darkness. So...

A New Low, Even for the US Bishops... Catholic Leaders Refuse Explicit Papal Directive on Nutrition and Hydration: Will "Study" Life and Death Issue for a Year 5/6/2004 11:49:00 PM - LifeSiteNews.com TAMPA BAY, May 3, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Last month Pope John Paul II stated unequivocally that a person who is ill always has the right to food and water, even if it must be administered to him through a feeding tube. The Pope made it clear that removal of nutrition and hydration from patients in a vegetative state who are not otherwise dying is "gravely immoral". In Catholic...

A new Vatican document on the Eucharist has been delayed by internal debate within the Roman Curia. According to Italian press reports, an early draft of the document has been set aside because of complaints that it was too "conservative." In April, when he released his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Pope John Paul II reported that he had directed the Roman Curia to produce "a more specific document, including prescriptions of a juridical nature," to address abuses in the Eucharistic liturgy. That second document has not yet appeared, despite occasional rumors that its publication is imminent. The monthly magazine Jesus,...

The Dignity of the Eucharistic Celebration By Father Edward McNamara, LC In dealing with the dignity of the surroundings and decorum of the eucharistic celebration, the encyclical "Ecclesia de Eucharistia" takes its cue from several Gospel texts which complement and enhance our understanding of the simple, yet solemn moment of the sacrament's institution. Thus, the accounts of the anointing at Bethany (Matthew 26:8; Mark 14:4; John 12:4) "anticipate the honor which his body will continue to merit even after his death, indissolubly bound as it is to the mystery of his person" ("Ecclesia de Eucharistia," No. 47). The "careful" preparation...

VATICAN, Feb 4, 03 (CWNews.com) -- Pope John Paul II will publish a new encyclical, on the Eucharist, within the next few months, informed Vatican sources have revealed.Rumors have been circulating since early last year that the Holy Father has been working on a document about the Eucharist. But the Holy See has made no announcement on the subject, and there had been-- until now-- no indication as to what form that document might take.Now Vatican sources confirm that the Pope is in the final stages of preparing an encyclical letter. The Congregations for the Doctrine of Faith and for...