Pope defines real social development, drawing on Paul VI [CNA]

[CNA News]

Pope Benedict XVI



Vatican City, Jul 7, 2009 / 05:01 am (CNA).- Today Pope Benedict XVI delivered his encyclical “Caritas in vertiate,” drawing heavily on Pope Paul VI's vision of real human development, which insists upon progress in the moral and spiritual realms, in addition to the material. Paul VI's teaching on development, Benedict XVI wrote, is the “new Rerum Novarum of the present age.”


“Charity in truth,” Pope Benedict said as he began his encyclical, “is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity.” It is precisely this gift of charity in truth that Jesus Christ bore witness to “by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection,” he noted.


Moreover, Benedict explained, “Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine.”
In today's world, the Pope said that he sees charity being “misconstrued and emptied of meaning” and that this puts it at risk of being “misinterpreted, detached from ethical living and, in any event, undervalued.”

Full article...

[Eucharisted]

ENCYCLICAL LETTER
CARITAS 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 TRUTH




INTRODUCTION

1. 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 a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:22). To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, “rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us. In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth (cf. Jn 14:6).

2. Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine. Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (cf. Mt 22:36- 40). It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbour; it is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones). For the Church, instructed by the Gospel, charity is everything because, as Saint John teaches (cf. 1 Jn 4:8, 16) and as I recalled in my first Encyclical Letter, “God is love” (Deus Caritas Est): everything has its origin in God's love, everything is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it. Love is God's greatest gift to humanity, it is his promise and our hope.

I am aware of the ways in which charity has been and continues to be misconstrued and emptied of meaning, with the consequent risk of being misinterpreted, detached from ethical living and, in any event, undervalued. In the social, juridical, cultural, political and economic fields — the contexts, in other words, that are most exposed to this danger — it is easily dismissed as irrelevant for interpreting and giving direction to moral responsibility. Hence the need to link charity with truth not only in the sequence, pointed out by Saint Paul, of veritas in caritate (Eph 4:15), but also in the inverse and complementary sequence of caritas in veritate. Truth needs to be sought, found and expressed within the “economy” of charity, but charity in its turn needs to be understood, confirmed and practised in the light of truth. In this way, not only do we do a service to charity enlightened by truth, but we also help give credibility to truth, demonstrating its persuasive and authenticating power in the practical setting of social living. This is a matter of no small account today, in a social and cultural context which relativizes truth, often paying little heed to it and showing increasing reluctance to acknowledge its existence.

3. Through this close link with truth, charity can be recognized as an authentic expression of humanity and as an element of fundamental importance in human relations, including those of a public nature. Only in truth does charity shine forth, only in truth can charity be authentically lived. Truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity. That light is both the light of reason and the light of faith, through which the intellect attains to the natural and supernatural truth of charity: it grasps its meaning as gift, acceptance, and communion. Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite. Truth frees charity from the constraints of an emotionalism that deprives it of relational and social content, and of a fideism that deprives it of human and universal breathing-space. In the truth, charity reflects the personal yet public dimension of faith in the God of the Bible, who is both Agápe and Lógos: Charity and Truth, Love and Word.

Read the rest here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/be...ritate_en.html

[Eucharisted]

The encyclical is very long. I encourage you to read it all, but, if you have little time, you can get right to its core message by skipping to section 34. And if your time is really, really tight, you could just skip to section 42 to know what the encyclical is all about.

[peregrinus_WA]

Originally Posted by Eucharisted

The encyclical is very long. I encourage you to read it all, but, if you have little time, you can get right to its core message by skipping to section 34. And if your time is really, really tight, you could just skip to section 42 to know what the encyclical is all about.

I will read the whole thing in context and find out what it is really about, not cherry pick.

Saying that, I have downloaded from the document from another site and will be reading it starting tonight since I do not have my memory stick to store it.

[Catholic Press]

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Ethical values are needed to overcome the current global economic crisis as well as to eradicate hunger and promote the real development of all the world's peoples, Pope Benedict XVI said in his new encyclical.

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[Tsuwano]

I've already scanned the document and am generally pleased with it. Needless to say, it will require a prolonged and reflective reading to fully comprehend the implications of its message. Thank you for providing the link to the document.

[estesbob]

Originally Posted by Eucharisted

The encyclical is very long. I encourage you to read it all, but, if you have little time, you can get right to its core message by skipping to section 34. And if your time is really, really tight, you could just skip to section 42 to know what the encyclical is all about.

Sections 34 and 42 must be read in light of section 28. I was struck by the direct rebuke of Non-govermental oranizations as to their commitment to life.

[Eucharisted]

A companion of the new encyclical is the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. You can read it here: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/po...tt-soc_en.html

[Neil_Anthony]

Calls for U.N. with more teeth and good globalization.

[JamieMc]

I've read the intro and Chapter 1 and my mind is mush. Must . . . take . . . break

[Catholic Press]

Benedict XVI’s third encyclical is dedicated to an integral human development in charity and in truth. The economy needs ethics to function correctly, and ethics that is in favour of the human person. No to a development that exploits workers and nature and that does not respect the rights of man and the right to life. Abortion and birth control are at times imposed on poor Nations. Respect for Religious Freedom. Technology risks becoming a new ideology.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Globalisation, which marks society today, is in need of a reaffirmation of ethical values, as well as “a personal and communal cultural orientation, open to transcendence" that is capable of "correcting its malfunctions." Finance, the marketplace, the international and the internal relations of each country, respect for human rights, for the lives of those who work, the use and not the abuse of nature; in a word, human development. But in order for it to be an integral development that takes into account the whole of the human person, it is in need of "charity in truth." "The economy needs ethics for its efficient functioning, not any ethics but an ethics in favour of the person”. This is the point at the heart of Caritas in Veritate, Benedict XVI’s third encyclical made public today, and dedicated to the different aspects of the issue of development, 40 years on from Populorum Progressio, Paul VI’s great encyclical .

Addressed to the “bishops, priests and deacons, men and women religious, the lay faithful and all people of good will”, the encyclical begins with the affirmation that “Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness” is “the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity”. The binomial is indivisible, “Truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity” and “Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love” (n. 3). And “A Christianity of charity without truth would be more or less interchangeable with a pool of good sentiments, helpful for social cohesion, but of little relevance. In other words, there would no longer be any real place for God in the world” (n. 4).


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[irishpatrick]

Originally Posted by Neil_Anthony

Calls for U.N. with more teeth and good globalization.

If that is true...it concerns me greatly...have to read it...

[estesbob]

Originally Posted by irishpatrick

If that is true...it concerns me greatly...have to read it...

Its going to take a lot of time to digest it-I saw the part of globalizayion not necessarily being bad. i didnt catch the part about a UN with more teeth but saw a rebuke of UN non-govermental organizations for their anti-life policies

[Neil_Anthony]

Originally Posted by estesbob

Its going to take a lot of time to digest it-I saw the part of globalizayion not necessarily being bad. i didnt catch the part about a UN with more teeth but saw a rebuke of UN non-govermental organizations for their anti-life policies

just search on the word "teeth"

[Joe 5859]

Today's press release from the Vatican Information Service includes a summary of the encyclical that prints out to about 2 1/2 pages.

SUMMARY OF ENCYCLICAL "CARITAS IN VERITATE"

VATICAN CITY, 7 JUL 2009 (VIS) - Given below is a summary of Benedict XVI's new Encyclical "Caritas in veritate" (Charity in Truth) on integral human development in charity and truth.

The Encyclical published today - which comprehends an introduction, six chapters and a conclusion - is dated 29 June 2009, Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles.

A summary of the Encyclical released by the Holy See Press Office explains that in his introduction the Pope recalls how "charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine". Yet, given the risk of its being "misinterpreted and detached from ethical living", he warns how "a Christianity of charity without truth would be more or less interchangeable with a pool of good sentiments, helpful for social cohesion, but of little relevance".

[read more]

It's certainly a noble and worthwhile enterprise to read the whole thing, but sometimes it's helpful to have a nice summary. And if you're going to read a summary, better it be from the Holy See's press office rather than some other media outlet.