What I loved most about 'Caritas In Veritate'

Not only is this encyclical a kind of wake-up call but it is also a guidebook.

PARIS (Le blog de la Bergerie) - What I loved most about Caritas In Veritate is the ability of Pope Benedict XVI to expose and intertwine four crucial truths at the very same time: two sets of issues (developmental social justice and individual moral) and to shed light on them from two angles (faith and reason).

The developmental and social justice issues of today, whether they are local or global - and that is the main meat of the encyclical - are linked with the individual moral issues of today (such as openness to life and respect for the whole of man) and both of them are shown to depend on how well we are open to God, acknowledging our own transcendence, and what happens when we don't.

Pope Benedict XVI is always expressing his points clearly and logically with constant references to reason, in an on-going effort to use both faith and reason to articulate the faith and expound the doctrines of the Church and to find common ground with non-believers. Because of the "reason" clause, he stressed the "truth" of charity right from the beginning, warning against misconstrued and misinterpreted charity, detached from ethical living.

In 79 paragraphs, the encyclical addresses all the crucial topics of development and the interdependence of the world needing to be matched by ethical consciences, including: religious freedom, the responsibility of the State, the international efforts of peace-building and joint strategies to curb military conflict. It did occur to me while reading the sections on social justice that it should please the "progressives" among us. And when I read his call to respect life, I thought the "conservatives" among us should cheer.

But I must admit that because he is so persistent on challenging all of us to do both, talking about "redistributive justice, solidarity and the sharing of goods" and "rejecting demographic control and anti-birth mentality, euthanasia, in vitro fertilization, embryo research and cloning" that I started worrying he was going to be rejected by most... But that is my own fear and, hopefully, on the contrary, his encyclical will be welcomed and debated and used as a creative and formative platform for a long time

If it is, then we will all benefit from it because it is a great wake-up call and the timing is absolutely perfect. He is reminding us that no matter the technological and material advances, if care and love and honesty is not part of the deal, eventually, the whole affair will collapse. He challenged two sacred cows: Technology and Psychology, saying that they are not enough, they can even stump our own growth, that because new technologies are fascinating, even intoxicating, there is the danger of turning us all into technocrats whose developmental growth in thinking and moral judgment is actually limited.

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He also warned of the dangers of neurological reductionism and over-simplifications which cannot answer our deepest needs, the proof of their limitations being in the wide-spread suffering of neuroses and addictions in our modern societies. Don't get me wrong, as far as new technologies are concerned, I'm a big fan of them, I have my own blog and I love facebook, Flickr and LinkedIn, and digital photography was created just for me! But the Pope is right to raise some red flags, he actually devoted a whole chapter to them (# 6).

Not only is this encyclical a kind of wake-up call but it is also a guidebook with many suggestions. A surprising one is a sort of "tax choice". Being able to allocate whether my taxes go to national defense or public schools or international aid? Sounds great! Another bold proposition is the reform of the UN, the World Bank and the International Tribunal of Den Hague; only the UN is actually mentioned by name, but he is referring to all current organizations with a global raison d'etre. Most of these institutions (including the European Union) have already turned into huge bureaucracies and now is the time to ask for more transparency and accountability, streamlined and simplified operations.

He is also asking to find new ways "to manage the global economy; to bring about timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration: for all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority, regulated by law, to observe consistently the principles of subsidiary and solidarity, to seek to establish the common good". This is quite a bold vision! This is what the G8 and G20 are already trying to do on the political level but I think Pope Benedict is calling for something different, for new ways, based on the system of subsidiary (which is more people oriented) done in a true spirit of charity and solidarity (which is the only way to curb private hoarding and selfish aims). He is asking us to give more, and first of all to give of ourselves. It is quite doable nowadays, thanks to the internet, social networks and cell phones, new charitable troops can be raised in a grassroots manner.

Globalization is not in itself good or bad, it all depends what we make of it, and it is up to all of us to work it out together because that is exactly what the "universality" implied in "Catholic" means, because the call to work together does not come from us but from Him who sent us out to all the corners of the world and said that "He will draw all men to himself" and "He will be with us till the ends of time". I understand - and I agree - that there is much fear involved in facing changes and it often feels nowadays that the whole deck of cards is being re-shuffled too quickly.

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But I am very grateful for this wonderful and challenging encyclical, outlining the road ahead and the work to do, constantly weaving the 4 truths of social justice for the common good, with the on-going process of forming conscience (starting with our own!) under the watchful light of faith and reason. If you think about it, the responsible, courageous and generous future that he is calling for is already happening since the encyclical was posted on line, for all, for free... As far as the head of the Catholic Church is concerned, we know his name and address and we know his agenda; you can google the words Caritas In Veritate et Voila!

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Le blog de la Bergerie is a bi-lingual (French and English) weblog edited by Michele Szekely featuring original writings and other inspired content. The goal of the site: 'A Catholic and French-American blog dedicated to sharing the faith in English and in French and to strengthen the friendship between both countries in the process; a place to find articles and commentaries on the family, on the faith and the world, on the faith in the world, on Sacred Scriptures, on the new evangelization, on book reviews.'Used with permission.