Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Caritas in Veritate: Benedict’s (non-partisan) Truth
Caritas in Veritate: Benedict’s (non-partisan) Truth
Apr 3, 2025 10:20 PM

At the time of his election in April 2005, Pope Benedict XVI was widely perceived to be a “conservative” in our modern political parlance. It should not surprise, then, that mentators have expressed either shock or joy, depending on their own affiliations, with last Tuesday’s publication of his encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), the first extended statement on social and economic issues of his pontificate.

Conservatives are dismayed by his calls for increased foreign aid, the redistribution of wealth, and a United Nations with “real teeth”. Liberals are wondering why the pope had to ruin such lovely sentiments by bringing up the evils of abortion, euthanasia, and birth control. Prominent voices on both sides think the pope is hopelessly naïve and unrealistic. Reading Charity in Truth for partisan purposes can yield moments of agony and ecstasy for left and right alike.

Neither side, however, seems ready to take Benedict’s theology – his own field of expertise – seriously. Part of this is a result of our habitual, liberal democratic tendency to separate Church and State and not let theological arguments influence our politics. This tendency invariably blinds us to the bination of respect for life with the demands of social justice.

Such a synthesis is not easy nor is it likely to satisfy partisans. It’s hard enough to imagine an international authority that mand universal support – not even the pope has that within his own Church. In many ways our current systems of democratic governance are more modest because they do not assume any such unanimity, theological or otherwise. But the real question is whether a society built solely peting interests will ultimately be worth the trouble. Will it reflect Benedict’s insistent demands for human dignity? Experience keeps telling us something more is clearly needed.

Our political categories of left and right originate from the French Revolution, which infamously saw the Catholic Church as its great enemy. Which makes it all the more remarkable that the modern social teachings of the papacy may provide the soundest moral defense of liberté, égalité et fraternité in today’s world.

We often make utilitarian arguments in favor of freedom, especially in the area of economics. We support the market economy and the profit motive because they produce more goods and services and increase our standard of living. We criticize the same system when we see others or ourselves less well-off materially, such as in this time of crisis. The system is judged moral or immoral because of what it does for us.

This is not Benedict’s approach. Like his predecessors, he starts with a certain understanding of human nature. Human beings are free and equal in dignity because they are created in the image and likeness of God. And as children of God, they have a social nature pels them to live and prosper together, despite their tendency to pride and selfishness. Human beings still have a “vocation” together. On this basis, Catholic social teaching developed a moral understanding of human freedom that rightly warns against utopian or overly idealistic schemes: the Church knows there is nothing more evident than human sin and weakness.

On past occasions, Benedict has avoided what he calls “cheap moralism” that takes no account of the technical side of economics and shows no willingness to integrate ethics into the everyday world of business – it remains on the outside looking in. Instead of partaking in simple, “prophetic” (in hindsight) calls against capitalism, Benedict has chosen to engage us with “an adult faith”, as he said on the eve of the encyclical’s publication.

Charity in Truth tells us that the Catholic faith creates “breathing-space” for human beings first of all by rescuing us from determinism and the denial of free will and action. The good of eternal life taught by the Catholicism is a “higher good” that liberates us from the relentless accumulation of wealth. And finally, the pope employs terms such as “integral human development” and the mon good” that promote a myriad of social activities outside state control; religious munity organizations and even different forms of business are some examples. Allowing for “breathing-space” seems to be Benedict’s argument against central planning and control in social and political life. This “breathing-space” also allows for openness to God and recognition of our own interdependence. It’s the papal version of letting a thousand flowers bloom.

In the end, Benedict’s vision of charity working under the guidance of truth is one that transcends our partisan claims of justice. His vision is not an easy one to accept or implement, especially for those involved in the technical fields of finance and economics. But that’s just the point, isn’t it? We e to an impasse. And the pope, pastor of a billion souls, is eager for us all to be a little better than we’ve been lately.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Is Money Just a Necessary Evil?
If money didn’t exist, would God have ordained that we invent it? Theologian Wayne Grudem says he would since money is simply a tool for our use that makes voluntary exchanges possible: Money makes voluntary exchanges more fair, less wasteful, and far more extensive. We need money in the world in order for us to be good stewards of the earth and to glorify God through using it wisely. If money were evil in itself, then God would not have...
Movies That Define America
Don’t you love lists? Intercollegiate Press does too, and they’ve put together “12 Movies That Defined America.” Feel free to argue, debate, add on, cross off as you wish. Here are just a couple of Intercollegiate Press’ choices: The Birth of a Nation – 1915, silent. The first blockbuster, D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation was both celebrated as a great artistic achievement and denounced as racist for its vicious depiction of African Americans and homage to the KKK....
Reflections on the Passing of Leonard P. Liggio
LiggioAlmost 20 years ago I was invited to speak at the celebratory banquet for the Atlas Economic Research Foundation (now Atlas Network) and the Institute for Humane Studies, then celebrating their 15th and 35th anniversaries respectively. I was an alumnus of both and six years into the launch of the Acton Institute (founded in 1990). Both organizations considered me “successful enough” to reflect at the banquet on how each had influenced my life. It was an undeserved honor, of course,...
Why Not Just Hand Over the Sermons?
After hearing the news that the city of Houston had ordered several pastors to submit their sermons for legal review, many people had the same reaction as Brian Lee: “My response? So what? Sermons are public proclamation, aren’t they?” Sermons are indeed proclamations intended for the public, and most pastors would be eager for anyone — including public officials — to hear them. So what is the reason for the current objection? Mollie Hemingway explains that the true “governing authorities”...
Socialists Love Everything About $20 Minimum Wages (Except Paying Such Wages Themselves)
There’s something almost charming about people in American who champion socialism. Yes, their economic views are naive and destructive. And yes most people (though especially the poor) would be much worse off if their vision for “progress” was actually implemented. But it’s hard to be too concerned when they are, at heart, really just capitalists who like to play political dress up. Consider one of their favorite causes, a $20 minimum wage. In their most recent party platform, the Freedom...
Why American slavery wasn’t capitalist
In his new book, The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, Edward E. Baptist “offers a radical new interpretation of American history,” through which slavery laid the foundation for and “drove the evolution and modernization of the United States.” In a review of the book for the Wall Street Journal, Fergus M. Bordewich concurs with this central point, noting that “Mississippi…does not have to look like Manchester, England, or Lowell, Mass., to make it...
Ladies: Give Us Your Most Productive Years, We’ll Hold Your Eggs For You
This story has so many things wrong with it, I hardly know where to start. Apple and Facebook have both announced that will now offer egg-freezing – for non-medical purposes – for their employees (which runs at least $10,000, plus a $500 to $800 annual storage fee.) For panies, it means two things. One, there is a demand from their employees for such an offer. Second, panies themselves see some benefit to this. What it sounds like is this: “It’s...
Rev. Sirico on the Vatican Synod
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Rev. Robert A. Sirico clears away the media hype surrounding the Vatican Synod on the Family and offers an analysis of its early work. He observes that nothing about the synod “challenges the dogma of the church related to the indissolubility of sacramental marriage, the use of artificial contraception, cohabitation and homosexual acts. What it did was soften the tone of these teachings.” But things got interesting. An early report led critics to say that...
Why Are So Many Americans Still on Food Stamps?
When the economy takes a downturn and unemployment rises, more people rely on the social safety net and programs like the recently renamed food stamp program called SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). As the economy improves and employment increases, people need to rely less on government provided support. At least that’s what used to happen. But something has changed. From 1969 until 2003, SNAP has been very responsive to changes in the unemployment rate. But from 2003 to 2007, the...
Freedom, Security, and the iPhone
Writing on September 22 in the Wall Street Journal, Devlin Barret and Danny Yadron reported, Last week, Apple announced that its new operating system for phones would prevent law enforcement from retrieving data stored on a locked phone, such as photos, videos and contacts. A day later, Google reiterated that the next version of its Android mobile-operating system this fall would make it similarly difficult for police or Google to extract such data from suspects’ phones. It’s not just a...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved