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Gee I wonder why the Pope (in Deus Caritas Est, 2005) specifically opposes the kind of omni-competent, omni-involved government that socialism usually implies.

Of course, it's easy to criticize documents and authors one hasn't read, and to criticize them for things they don't say. It's about as easy and as moral as railroading Rush for stuff he didn't say.

The state which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy, incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person — every person — needs: namely, loving, personal concern. We do not need a state that regulates and controls everything, but a state that, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. The Church is one of those living forces: She is alive with the live enkindled by the Spirit of Christ. This love does not simply offer people material help, but refreshment and care for their souls, something that often is even more necessary than material support.

The notion of "subsidiarity" is critical to Catholic social thought - and flies in the face of the kind of socialism Obama wants:

This tenet holds that nothing should be done by a larger and more complex organization which can be done as well by a smaller and simpler organization. In other words, any activity which can be performed by a more decentralized entity should be. This principle is a bulwark of limited government and personal freedom. It conflicts with the passion for centralization and bureaucracy characteristic of the Welfare State.
here

The two principles of Solidarity and Subsidiarity are critical to understanding Catholic Social thought. In fact, there is al most a perfect opposition between catholic thought and Zero's thought: We think and teach that the appropriate response to people in need is that of the Good Samaritan, which can be seen as having two aspects:
(1) He recognized that the need of the man whom he encountered was his need - Solidarity.
(2) He took care of it himself - subsidiarity.

The Democrats want us to think that the victim's need is society's or the community's, anybody's need, but not yours -- no solidarity.

And they want us to turn immediately to some government agency to address the need -- no subsidiarity.

Mind you, I gained my very rudimentary understanding of Catholic social teaching by ... study! I did not gain it by reading simple-minded and uninformed critiques