Caritas in Veritate
Published in 2009, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) was pope Benedict XVI's first social encyclical. The encyclical is concerned with many aspects of global development and economic and political justice. The pontiff aims to lay down moral guidelines within which specific policies can be crafted. These guidelines include a rejection of both socialist and free-market ideologies in favor of a conception within which all social actions are informed by ethics. The letter discusses poverty, population issues, the environment, relativism, sexual exploitation, and many other timely issues. It is divided into six sections: "The Message of 'Populorum Progressio,'" "Human Development in Our Time," "Fraternity, Economic Development and Civil Society," "The Development of People, Rights and Duties, and the Environment," "The Cooperation of the Human Family," and "The Development of Peoples and Technology."
Top Highlights
“Charity is love received and given. It is ‘grace’ (cháris).” (source)
“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 8:32). 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.” (source)
“common good. To love someone is to desire that person’s good and to take effective steps to secure it.” (source)
“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.” (source)
“Truth, in fact, is lógos which creates diá-logos, and hence communication and communion. Truth, by enabling men and women to let go of their subjective opinions and impressions, allows them to move beyond cultural and historical limitations and to come together in the assessment of the value and substance of things.” (source)
- Title: Caritas in Veritate
- Author: Pope Benedict XVI
- Series: The Papal Encyclicals of Benedict XVI in English
- Publisher: Libreria Editrice Vaticana
- Print Publication Date: 2009
- Logos Release Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Social justice › Religious aspects--Catholic Church; Catholic Church › Doctrines; Christianity and justice › Catholic Church; Love › Religious aspects--Catholic Church
- Resource ID: LLS:CARITASVERIT
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T19:16:57Z