Pope addresses economic crisis in new encyclical

Posted on July 7th, 2009

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Pope Benedict XVI released his third encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate,” on Tuesday, July 7. The encyclical — an authoritative teaching document from the pope — applies Benedict’s ideas and the Catholic social justice tradition to the economic crisis. It also comes out as the G-8 summit convenes in Italy.

pope benedictOn Friday, July 10, the pope will also welcome President Barack Obama in a private audience at the Vatican in the first meeting between the men since Obama’s election.

The meeting will draw attention to sharp divisions within the Catholic Church in the United States over Obama, whose support for abortion rights has drawn fierce criticism from some Catholics. Other Catholic leaders — including, it appears, many in the Vatican — see convergences between many of Obama’s policies and positions the church advocates, especially as regards the economy and social welfare.

Moreover, the papal encyclical and the G-8 summit of leaders of the world’s top industralized nations cast a spotlight on the religious and ethical dimensions of the global economy.

“Caritas in Veritate,” or “Charity in Truth,” builds on Benedict’s previous encyclicals on love and on hope, ties them in with Catholic social teaching, and then applies them to contemporary issues of poverty, hunger, human dignity and many others.

The latest

ReligionLink will update this edition with relevant texts and news stories as they become available throughout the week.

On the encyclical Caritas in Veritate

On Obama’s visit to the Vatican

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Key issues

Benedict XVI is a theologian and scholar who has said he has little interest or expertise in economic issues. So this encyclical is his first major statement on social justice as pope, and perhaps his most extensive treatment of the topic in his career. That is in contrast to his predecessors Pope John Paul II and Pope Paul VI, who wrote frequently on matters of economic justice.

But the pope, who turned 82 on April 16, 2009, has made his mark in other ways since his election on April 19, 2005. Here are some of them:

EMERGING PROFILE

From 1981 until his election as pope after the death of John Paul II, Joseph Ratzinger served as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for John Paul. The head of the CDF is responsible for safeguarding doctrine and disciplining theologians and others who are seen as straying from orthodoxy. That makes the office one of the most powerful in the Vatican and in the church, and one of the most controversial.

While Ratzinger earned a reputation as a hardliner while at the CDF, his largely unexpected election as pope did two things, observers say: One, it has allowed him to leave the controversial disciplinary action to others while allowing his pastoral side to emerge. And two, it has caused Catholics and church observers to take a fresh look at Ratzinger as pope, apart from his former role as a cardinal in the Roman Curia. Benedict XVI is the first German elected to the papacy in more than 1,000 years, and he followed a Polish pope who was the first non-Italian elected pope in more than 450 years.

ENCYCLICALS and BOOKS

A pope’s writings are always cornerstones of his papacy and often form the core of his legacy to the church. As an esteemed intellectual, theologian and author, Pope Benedict is particularly focused on leaving an important body of work in addition to the many volumes he wrote as a cardinal.

Of his writings so far, several are considered most important. Two are encyclicals, the most authoritative statements a pope can issue: Deus caritas est, or “God Is Love,” signed by the pope on Dec. 25, 2005, and Spe salvi, or “Saved by Hope,” signed on Nov. 30, 2007. “Caritas in Veritate,” or “Love in Truth,” will be his third, and his first on social and economic themes.

Among the books the pope has written, two stand out in importance and popularity. Jesus of Nazareth, issued in spring 2006, was the first of a projected two-volume work on the life of Jesus Christ. Benedict is working on the second volume, which will cover Christ’s Passion, death and resurrection. A second book, Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church, is a collection of Benedict’s reflections at his weekly general audience.

The Vatican Web site has a complete list of all the pope’s writings, homilies and speeches.

THE ENVIRONMENT

Benedict has attracted media attention for his regular references to the need to protect and nurture the environment. Read a Jan. 7, 2008, Catholic News Service story. See also ReligionLink’s source guide on religion and the environment.

HOMOSEXUALS and the PRIESTHOOD

An effort to keep homosexuals out of the priesthood had been debated for years in the Vatican, at the initiative of then-Cardinal Ratzinger. But the policy was never implemented until Ratzinger became pope. In November 2005 the Vatican issued a document under Benedict’s signature, titled “Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders.” The document aimed to bar gay men from the priesthood, and it caused wide debate. At the same time, the Vatican began an inspection of U.S. seminaries in an effort to tighten up on the preparation of future priests in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandals, including their ability to deal with celibacy. That initiative also sparked some controversy. For background on both issues, see an October 2005 ReligionLink edition, “Homosexuals and the Catholic priesthood.”

ECUMENISM

The Vatican stirred controversy in July 2007 when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a statement, with Benedict’s approval, titled “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church.” The document, in the form of answers to various questions, sought to reaffirm the Catholic Church as the one church established by Jesus Christ. That restatement angered many non-Catholics, especially in the Protestant and Orthodox churches.

ISLAM

Pope Benedict’s September 2006 lecture at the University of Regensburg during a homecoming visit to Bavaria included statements on Islam and the Prophet Muhammad that were highly inflammatory and led to the first major crisis of Benedict’s papacy. His visit to Turkey more than a year later, in November 2007, helped to ease tensions, and after an exchange of communications between the Vatican and Muslim scholars, a Catholic-Muslim Dialogue began in Rome in November 2008. The pope’s visit to Jordan, Israel and the Occupied Territories in May 2009 was also seen as helping to repair relations with Islam. See a Sept. 20, 2006, ReligionLink edition, “Fallout: The pope and Islam,” as well as ReligionLink’s source guide on Islam.

JEWISH RELATIONS and THE LATIN MASS

In July 2007 the pope fulfilled a long-expected goal of restoring the pre-Vatican II Latin Rite Mass to wider use in the church. The action was controversial inside the church. Many bishops did not see the need for it, and many thought it was a way of undoing the reforms of the conciliar era. The move upset many Jewish groups because included in the restoration was a Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews that had been superseded by the new theological insights of the Second Vatican Council. The pope later had the prayer edited to allay fears, but concerns remain. The pope’s surprise decision in January 2009 to lift excommunications on four bishops belonging to a breakway Traditionalist sect also upset many Jews because of the association of the schismatics with anti-Semitic views.

CENSURING DISSENT

Vatican concern remains strong when it comes to theologians and Catholic leaders who Rome believes stray from orthodox teachings. Two episodes drew headlines while underscoring this concern. The first was the March 2007 notification from Rome that some of the works of a Jesuit liberation theologian in El Salvador, the Rev. Jon Sobrino, were “either erroneous or dangerous.” The second was the news in November 2007 that the Vatican and the U.S. bishops were investigating the works of a Vietnamese-born American theologian at Georgetown University, the Rev. Peter Phan. In December 2007 the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine said that Phan’s 2004 book on religious pluralism contains “pervading ambiguities and equivocations that could easily confuse or mislead the faithful.” The Vatican probe is believed to be ongoing.

National sources

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  • John L. Allen Jr. writes about church affairs with a focus on the Vatican for National Catholic Reporter, a leading national Catholic weekly. He is the author of The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church. Contact Jallen@natcath.org.
  • Helen Alvaré is an associate professor of law at Catholic University of America Law School. She has a master’s in theology and is a former spokeswoman for the U.S. bishops on pro-life issues. Contact 202-319-5146, alvare@cua.edu.
  • Christopher Bellitto is an assistant professor of history at Kean University in New Jersey who specializes in the history of the Catholic Church and the papacy. His book 101 Questions & Answers on Popes and the Papacy was published in March 2008. Contact 914-584-3961, cbellitt@kean.edu.
  • The Rev. Joseph Fessio, a Jesuit, is a former student of Cardinal Ratzinger and remains a confidant of the pope. He is a widely quoted promoter and defender of Benedict. Fessio founded Ignatius Press, which has published Joseph Ratzinger’s works in English, and he teaches theology at Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla. Contact 239-280-2516, jdfsj@ignatius.com.
  • The Rev. John T. Ford is a professor at the School of Theology and Religious Studies at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He has often used Benedict’s books as texts in his courses on Christianity. Contact 202-319-6501, ford@cua.edu.
  • Chester L. Gillis is a professor of Catholic studies in the theology department at Georgetown University in Washington. He is the editor of The Political Papacy: John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Their Influence. Contact 202-687-4514, gillisc@georgetown.edu.
  • Sister Jeannine Gramick is a Maryland-based member of the Sisters of Loretto religious order. She has been deeply involved in ministry to homosexuals but in 1999 was ordered by then-Cardinal Ratzinger to cease her activities because Ratzinger’s office said they did not conform to Catholic teaching. She was subsequently silenced by her previous religious order, which led to her becoming a Sister of Loretto, an order that has allowed her to continue to speak out. Contact 301-864-3604, gramick@juno.com.
  • The Rev. Thomas G. Guarino is a professor of systematic theology at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. He has written on the theological vision of Joseph Ratzinger. Contact 973-761-9640, guarinth@shu.edu.
  • The Rev. Robert P. Imbelli is a theologian at Boston College and has written and commented widely on the theology and policies of both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict. Contact 617-552-8298, robert.imbelli@bc.edu.
  • Sister Mary Johnson is a professor of sociology and religious studies at Emmanuel College in Boston who has given guest lectures in Australia, Europe and North America on Catholicism. She is a co-author of Young Adult Catholics: Religion in the Culture of Choice and is writing a book on Catholic religious orders. Contact 617-735-9830, johnsmb@emmanuel.edu.
  • The Rev. Richard P. McBrien is a noted author/editor (the Encyclopedia of Catholicism and other works), commentator and professor of theology at Notre Dame. He is knowledgeable, and often critical, about the politics and history of the church and the papacy. Contact 574-631-5151, rmcbrien@nd.edu.
  • Robert Mickens is an American journalist in Rome, where he works as the Vatican correspondent for The Tablet, a highly respected Catholic weekly published in London. Contact 011-39-329-748-7708, robinrome@libero.it.
  • John-Peter Pham is director of the William R. Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at James Madison University in Virginia. He is a former Vatican diplomat who worked under John Paul II and is author of Heirs of the Fisherman: Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession. Pham is a frequent commentator on papal politics and processes. Contact 540-568-2281, phamjp@jmu.edu.
  • The Rev. Thomas J. Reese is a Jesuit priest and a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. Reese is author of Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church and a leading political scientist of the church. He was also the longtime editor of America magazine, a national Jesuit weekly of opinion, but stepped down in the wake of Benedict’s election, reportedly at the insistence of Benedict just before the conclave. Contact 202-687-3532, TR89@georgetown.edu.
  • Greg Tobin is senior adviser for communications at Seton Hall University in New Jersey and author of Holy Father: Pope Benedict XVI: Pontiff for a New Era. Contact 973-313-6075, tobinggr@shu.edu.
  • George Weigel is a Catholic commentator and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. He is the author of God’s Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church. He is also the author of Witness to Hope, essentially the authorized biography of Pope John Paul II. Weigel can be contacted through his assistant, Carrie Gress, at 202-682-1200 ext. 218, cgress@eppc.org.

Background

For more sources and background, see these previous ReligionLink editions:

Biography

Travels

Papal travel in the modern era did not begin until Paul VI went to India and the Holy Land in 1964. Until then, popes were self-styled “prisoners of the Vatican,” the 108-acre compound in Rome that is the site of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Paul VI was known as “the Pilgrim Pope” because he made nine trips outside of Italy, including the first papal visit to the United Sates, a stopover in New York in 1965. But Pope John Paul II traveled constantly and widely.

Benedict is older and has not been as active in his foreign travel. His April 2008 visit to the United States was his first as pope.

Before the 2008 trip, he had visited the United States five times while he was a cardinal, according to a Catholic News Service story about his contacts in America. He lectured in Dallas in 1984, in New York in 1988 and in Washington, D.C., in 1990. In 1991 he spoke to bishops in Dallas and in 1999 he visited San Francisco for a meeting of Vatican doctrinal officials and doctrinal officials from bishops’ conferences in North America and Oceania.

Books about Pope Benedict XVI

  • The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church (2005) by John L. Allen Jr.
  • Pope Benedict XVI: A Biography of Joseph Ratzinger is a reissue of a 2000 biography of Ratzinger by John Allen that was previously subtitled The Vatican’s Enforcer of the Faith. Allen later said he thought that book was too harsh on Ratzinger.
  • God’s Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church (2005) by George Weigel.
  • The Making of the Pope 2005 by the Rev. Andrew M. Greeley. The well-known priest and sociologist and novelist updated his 1978 classic for the last conclave.
  • A Church in Search of Itself: Benedict XVI and the Battle for the Future (2006) by Robert Blair Kaiser. Kaiser is a former priest and author of several books on the Catholic Church.
  • Holy Father: Pope Benedict XVI: Pontiff for a New Era (2005) by Greg Tobin, an author and spokesman for the president of Seton Hall University in New Jersey.
  • Pope Benedict XVI: Successor to Peter (2005) by the Rev. Michael Collins, an Irish priest teaching in Rome.
  • We Have a Pope! Benedict XVI (2005) by Matthew E. Bunson, an expert on the church and author of numerous books on Catholicism.
  • Pope Benedict XVI: A Personal Portrait (2005) by Heinz-Joachim Fischer. Fischer is the Rome correspondent for a leading German newspaper and has known Ratzinger since 1976. He focuses on Benedict’s career as a cardinal and head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
  • The Thought of Pope Benedict XVI: An Introduction to the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger (2005) by the Rev. Aidan Nichols. This is an update of a book on Ratzinger’s theology written in the 1980s by Nichols, an English Dominican.
  • Pope Benedict XVI: His Life and Mission (2005) by Stephen Mansfield. Mansfield is a Protestant and author of a spiritual biography of President Bush.
  • Benedict XVI: The Man Who Was Ratzinger (2005) by Michael S. Rose, whose other books have excoriated modern church architecture and the presence of homosexuals in the priesthood.

Polls

The Pew Forum’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, released in February 2008, provides a broad new snapshot of Catholicism in America. A ReligionLink edition provides an extensive list of experts in all the topic areas covered by the survey, as well as a list of story ideas. There have been some questions raised about the survey’s methodology, particularly in regard to the framing of the Catholic numbers. The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown, a leading clearinghouse for data on the Catholic Church, released this critique of the Pew numbers.

Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST

  • Lisa Sowle Cahill is the J. Donald Monan Professor of Theology at Boston College and a veteran writer and commentator on issues of sex and gender in Catholicism. Contact 617-552-3890, Lisa.Cahill@bc.edu.
  • Alice L. Laffey is an associate professor of religious studies at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. She has written a history of papal statements and the evolution of papal teaching, and she can address issues regarding women and gender. Contact 508-793-3359, alaffey@holycross.edu.
  • Stephen Pope is a theology professor at Boston College and a frequent commentator on church affairs and the papacy. Contact 617-552-3892, popest@bc.edu.

IN THE EAST

  • Frank J. Coppa is a history professor at St. John’s University in Jamaica, N.Y., and editor of the Encyclopedia of the Vatican and Papacy and The Modern Papacy Since 1789. Contact 718-990-6090, coppaf@stjohns.edu.
  • John S. Grabowski is an associate professor of religious studies at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He specializes in ethics and moral theology, with an expertise in women’s issues. Contact 202-319-6509, or grabowski@cua.edu.
  • The Rev. Robert Wister is a leading expert on the history of the papacy. He is an associate professor of church history at Immaculate Conception School of Theology at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, and he is faculty fellow in the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall. He earned a doctorate in church history at Gregorian University in Rome. Contact 973-761-9000 ext. 2048, wisterro@shu.edu.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

  • Mark Ellingsen is an associate professor at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. He is the author of the article “Joseph Ratzinger: How Conservative is Benedict XVI?” in the October 2005 issue of Theology Today. Contact 404-527-7700, mellingsen@itc.edu.
  • The Rev. Gerald P. Fogarty is a professor of religious studies and history at the University of Virginia and an expert on the Vatican. He is author of several books, including The Papacy: From Low Regard to High Esteem: The Catholic Church in the Twentieth Century. Contact 434-924-6707, gpf@virginia.edu.
  • Joseph Iannone is dean of the School of Graduate Studies at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Fla. He is well-versed in the issues facing contemporary Catholicism and the papacy. Contact 305-628-6658, jiannone@stu.edu.

IN THE SOUTH

  • The Rev. Peter J. Bernardi is associate professor of religious studies at Loyola University in New Orleans. He can talk about the papacy in the contemporary world. He contributed an essay to the collection in Catholicism Contending With Modernity: Roman Catholic Modernism and Anti-Modernism in Historical Context. Contact 504-865-3941, bernardi@loyno.edu.
  • The Rev. William F. Maestri is a theologian and spokesman for the Archdiocese of New Orleans with a specialty in bioethics. Maestri can be reached through the communications office of his archdiocese at 504-596-3023, communications@archdiocese-no.org.

IN THE MIDWEST

  • The Rev. Steven M. Avella is professor of history at Marquette University in Milwaukee and an expert on the papacy. Contact 414-288-3556, steven.avella@marquette.edu.
  • The Rev. Richard Costigan is at the theology department at Loyola University in Chicago and is an expert on the papacy and papal history and controversies. Contact 773-508-2354 or at the Jesuit Residence, 773-508-8800. Email rcostig@luc.edu.
  • Dennis Doyle is a professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton and a frequent commentator and author on Catholic issues and the papacy. Contact 937-229-4219, dennis.doyle@notes.udayton.edu.
  • The Rev. Michael A. Fahey is a professor of theological studies at Marquette University in Milwaukee. He is an expert on the history and office of the papacy, and papal elections. Contact 414-288-3164, michael.fahey@marquette.edu.
  • Sandra Yocum is chair of religious studies at the University of Dayton who specializes in the history of theology, which is Benedict’s forte. Contact 937-229-4321 or email through her university Web page.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

  • The Rev. Charles E. Curran is Scurlock University Professor of Human Values at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He was dismissed from Catholic University of America for his teachings on human sexuality after an extended struggle, which included face-to-face meetings with then-Cardinal Ratzinger. Contact 214-768-4073, ccurran@mail.smu.edu.
  • Robert Blair Kaiser is a former Jesuit priest and author of several books on the Catholic Church, including A Church in Search of Itself: Benedict XVI and the Battle for the Future. Kaiser lives in Phoenix, Ariz. Contact 602-358-7274, rbkaiser@justgoodcompany.com.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

  • The Rev. James Eblen is an associate professor in Seattle University’s School of Theology and Ministry who can speak about the papacy. Contact 206-296-5339, jeblen@seattleu.edu.
  • The Rev. Patrick Howell is vice president for mission and ministry at the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University. He co-edited the book Empowering Authority: The Charisms of Episcopacy and Primacy in the Church Today. Contact 206-296-5331, patrickh@seattleu.edu.
  • The Rev. Thomas P. Rausch is a theology professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. A Catholic priest, Rausch is the author of Authority and Leadership in the Church: Past Directions and Future Possibilities. Contact 310-338-7670, trausch@lmu.edu.

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