Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – This morning in the Holy See Press Office a press conference was held to present Benedict XVI's new Encyclical "Caritas in veritate". Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace , said the document "is to be inserted in the tradition of social encyclicals in their modern stage, which we usually count from the Rerum novarum of Leo XIII to, 18 years later, the Centesimus annus social encyclical by John Paul II”. Illustrating the motivation for this new encyclical the Cardinal said “The Social Doctrine of the Church has a dimension which remains and one which changes with the times. It is the Gospel's encounter with new difficulties faced by humanity. These problems change and they do so today at a surprising rate. The Church has no technical solutions to propose, as Caritas in veritate reminds us, but she has the duty to illuminate human history with the light of the truth and the warmth of the love of Jesus Christ”.
Looking back on the twenty years which separate us from Centesimus annus, the Cardinal recalled the major changes which have taken place: political ideologies, which marked the epoch before 1989, appear to have lost their virulence, replaced however by the new ideology of technology; the accentuation of phenomena of globalisation determined on the one hand by opposing blocks and on the other the worldwide web and the Internet, (“the encyclical analyses globalisation throughout, since this phenomenon is, as we say today, "transversal": economy and finance, environment and family, cultures and religions, migration and respect for the rights of workers; all these and other elements all feel the effect of globalisation”); religions have returned to the public world scene whereas militant secularism at times exasperated, tends to exclude religion from the public sphere; the emergence of certain under-developing countries, is changing world geopolitical balance considerably”.
Cardinal Martino underlined the connection between the new encyclical and the Populorum progressio: “initially the Pope's idea was to issue the Caritas in veritate to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Populorum progressio by Paul VI”. Although it took longer to draft and is made e public later, this does not eliminate the important connection with the encyclical of Pope Paul. The first chapter of the new encyclical returns to Populorum progressio rereading its teaching within the whole magisterium of Pope Paul VI. “The theme of Caritas in veritate is not the ‘development of peoples' , but rather, ‘integral human development’, although it does not overlook the former. We could say that the vision of Populorum progressio is broadened in continuity with its profound dynamics ”. “La Caritas in veritate highlights the close connection made by Paul VI between the Church's Social Doctrine and evangelisation (Evangelii nuntiandi) and how he foresaw the central importance which would be assumed by social issues connected with procreation (Humanae vitae). The vision of Paul VI and the ideas of Populorum progressio are present throughout Caritas in veritate”.
Caritas in veritate, according to Cardinal Martino, adopts three perspectives of the encyclical of Paul VI: the idea that «the world suffers for lack of thought» (PP 85); " authentic humanism is never closed to the Absolute" (PP 42): "the root of underdevelopment is the absence of brotherhood" (PP 66). The encyclical of Benedict XVI also mentions the present economic, financial crisis, although this is not its central theme. “The present crisis highlights, according to Caritas in veritate, that the necessary rethinking of what is called the 'western' economic model, requested in the Centesimus annus about a century ago, has yet to be fully implemented. I say this however after explaining that - as Paul VI noted and as we see even more clearly today - the issue of development has become polycentric and the picture of responsibility, merits and faults, is today highly complex. The crisis offers an opportunity for new discernment and new planning. There emerges from the Encyclical a positive vision which encourages humanity to find the resources of truth and the will to overcome the difficulties. Not sentimental encouragement, since Caritas in veritate identifies with lucidity and with concern all the problems of underdevelopment in vast areas of the planet. Instead encouragement which is founded, conscious and realistic because many leaders and actors of truth and love are at work in the world and because, God who is Truth and Love, is always at work in human history”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 7/7/2009; righe 55, parole 784)
