Posted on 07/07/2009 12:03:58 PM PDT by SMCC1
The revenge of Justice and Peace (or so they may think).
By George Weigel
In the often unpredictable world of the Vatican, it was as certain as anything could be in mid-1990 that there would be a 1991 papal encyclical to commemorate the centenary of Rerum Novarum the 1891 letter of Leo XIII that is rightly regarded as the Magna Carta of modern Catholic social doctrine. The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which imagines itself the curial keeper of the flame of authentic Catholic social teaching, prepared a draft, which was duly sent to Pope John Paul II who had already had a bad experience with the conventionally gauchiste and not-very-original thinking at Justice and Peace during the preparation of the 1987 social encyclical, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis. John Paul shared the proposed draft with colleagues in whose judgment he reposed trust; one prominent intellectual who had long been in conversation with the Pope told him that the draft was unacceptable, in that it simply did not reflect the way the global economy of the postCold War world worked.
Ping for later
However I disagree with Weigel on the emphasis on Justice and peace, but not the last sentence which I have included below. That was not the Pope’s intent in my opinion.
**...that all social issues, including political and economic questions, are ultimately questions of the nature of the human person.**
Excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI New Encyclical "CARITAS IN VERITATE" (CHARITY AND TRUTH)
One sharp blogger takes down the sheer implausibility of Weigel's account. I found the encyclical illuminating. This piece by Weigel is evidence of his sad decline.
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