Courtesy Catholic World News and Ignatius PressThe Vatican has announced a publication date for Caritatis in Veritate, the long-awaited social encylical by Pope Benedict XVI. The document will be released on Tuesday, July 7. Cardinal Renato Martino, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, will be the leading figure at a Vatican press conference introducting the encyclical.
Anyone else see the theme emerging in the Holy Father's encyclicals - Love, Hope, & Truth. Ignatius Press will release their premium text on August 1.
Pope Benedict’s third encyclical, Love in Truth (Caritas in Veritate), applies the themes of his first two encyclicals —love and hope (God Is Love, Saved in Hope) — to the world’s major social issues. Drawing on moral truths open, in principle, to everyone (the natural law) as well as on the teachings of the gospel (revelation), Pope Benedict addresses Catholics and non-Catholics alike, challenging us all to recognize and then to confront the social evils of our day.
The first part of the encyclical examines the dynamic teaching of Benedict’s predecessors, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. Both men contributed greatly to the body of doctrine known as “Catholic social teaching”. Both men challenged the simplistic division of political perspectives into “conservative” and “liberal”, and “right” and “left”. Both men were convinced that the natural moral law and the teaching of the Gospel were indispensable for a world in desperate search of hope and meaning.[In Catholic theology there is no such thing as liberal and conservative. There is right and wrong. Orthodoxy and Heresy. However you label yourself, when you set yourself up against Jesus and his Church, you will fail.]
In the second part Benedict surveys the social issues that confront the human race today—assaults on the dignity of the human person such as the attack on human life, poverty, issues of war and peace, terrorism, globalization, and environmental concerns. Benedict provides sound moral principles to address these social and economic problems, and to promote a culture of life and genuine peace. [It is interesting that he is going to speak about globalization and the environment. I look forward to read what he has to say.
In this outstanding work, Pope Benedict shows us why so many observers regard him as the world’s leading moral voice, as well as one of the most insightful and profound social/political thinkers of our day.
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