"Charity in Truth"

7/7/2009
Pope Benedict XVI's New Encyclical

Pope Benedict XVI's third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, has been signed (on July 29, the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul) and released.

A couple snippets from the introduction:

In the present social and cultural context, where there is a widespread tendency to relativize truth, practising charity in truth helps people to understand that adhering to the values of Christianity is not merely useful but essential for building a good society and for true integral human development. A Christianity of charity without truth would be more or less interchangeable with a pool of good sentiments, helpful for social cohesion, but of little relevance. In other words, there would no longer be any real place for God in the world. (no. 4)

[T]he Church searches for truth, proclaims it tirelessly and recognizes it wherever it is manifested. This mission of truth is something that the Church can never renounce. Her social doctrine is a particular dimension of this proclamation: it is a service to the truth which sets us free. Open to the truth, from whichever branch of knowledge it comes, the Church's social doctrine receives it, assembles into a unity the fragments in which it is often found, and mediates it within the constantly changing life-patterns of the society of peoples and nation. (no. 9)

Go to the Vatican Web site to check it out.