My Initial — But Belated — Reaction to Caritas in Veritate
I have been meaning to comment on Pope Benedict XVI’s recent encyclical Caritas in Veritate, published on July 7 of this year. I don’t have time to do it — to begin to do it — justice right now, but there are two points worth making.
There is always a need for caution in the treatment of papal encyclicals. They are written to hold up values, more than solutions and are often written at a level of generality that leaves much unresolved. As John Paul II wrote, “the Church proposes; she imposes nothing.” The second is that — although we can’t help but read them with American eyes — they are not written only for us.
Still, I think an American reader should be struck by two insights — neither particularly new — “proposed” by Caritas.