Italian newspaper reveals key paragraphs from Pope's upcoming social encyclical

The upcoming social encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI "Caritas in veritate" - Charity in truth - will bear the date of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29, but will likely become public on July 6 or 7, the Italian daily Corriere della Sera said on Saturday.

An article by Gian Guido Vecchi quotes what he claims are several original paragraphs of the Pope’s third encyclical.

"Without truth, without trust and love for what is truthful, there is no conscience or social responsibility, and the social action falls under the control of private interests or logics of power, with destructive effect on society, even more on a society in way to globalization, in difficult moments like the current ones,” the Pope will say in “Caritas in veritate,” according to Vecchi.

Corriere della Sera says the Pope highlights in the upcoming document that globalization is not an evil in itself, but it cannot be left to self-regulation.

"'Without truth, without trust and love for what is truthful, there is no conscience or social responsibility, and the social action falls under the control of private interests or logics of power, with destructive effect on society, even more on a society in way to globalization, in difficult moments like the current ones,' the Pope will say in 'Caritas in veritate,' according to Vecchi."

Yeah right! Vecchi blew this out of context. I am not so sure that we should run down "private interests". "Private interests" produce the social benefits which we hope to have. "Private interests" don’t necessarily mean "selfish interests"

"'In the midst of the new international economic, commercial and financial context,' the Pope will suggest an international agreement to lead the process of globalization: 'an authority that should be regulated by law, should stick coherently to the principles of subsidiarity ad solidarity, should be aimed at achieving the common good and committed in fostering an authentic integral human development, inspired in the values of charity and truth.'"

I like this (rememberbing that it is out of context). Rule of law is necessary so that people can depend on things like contracts. Then, through a healthy subsidiarity, government should get out when matters can be handled at a lower level (even though we know that "the people" are higher than government.)

Oh, and about abortion:

"[About abortion…] The encyclical, in fact, is likely to say that 'openness to life is at the core of every true development,' and regarding the ambiguous policies aimed at 'reducing the need for abortion' by means of other social policies, the Pope warns that 'if personal and social sensibility toward the welcoming of a new life is lost, even other forms of welcoming (life) useful to social life become fruitless.'"

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