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Pope Benedict will soon finish his encyclical on social issues, the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has confirmed. Catholic News Agency reports Cardinal Bertone said the Pope is working on a social encyclical, which he believes will have a "significant impact on the great social and economic problems in the contemporary world". "Pope Benedict will address issues particularly related to the third and the fourth world," Cardinal Bertone said The concept of the "fourth world" was coined by Pope John Paul II in his social encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis in reference to the poor and marginalized living...

Pope Benedict XVI strongly criticized atheism in a major document released Friday, saying it had led to some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" ever known.In his second encyclical, Benedict also critically questioned modern Christianity, saying its focus on individual salvation had ignored Jesus' message that true Christian hope involves salvation for all.The document, titled "Saved by Hope," is a deeply theological exploration of Christian hope: that in the suffering and misery of daily life, Christianity provides the faithful with a "journey of hope" to the Kingdom of God."We must do all we can to overcome...

When Evangelicals ask me why the Church keeps holding up Mary alongside Christ, the best answer I can think of is this: There's one thing that even Jesus cannot do. He cannot show us what a disciple of Jesus looks like. Only a disciple of Jesus can do that. That is exactly what Benedict does at the end of his encyclical. It's easy to say, after this great discourse on Hope, "Looks great on paper. But has anybody ever actually been able to live this?" The Pope's answer is "Here's how it played out in the first disciple's life. It...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, in an encyclical released on Friday, said atheism was responsible for some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" in history. The 75-page "Spe Salvi," which takes its Latin title from a quote by St Paul (in hope we were saved), is an appeal to a pessimistic world to find strength in Christian hope. In the second encyclical of his papacy, Benedict urges Christians to put their hope for the future in God and not in technology, wealth or political ideologies. Atheism could be regarded by some as a "type of...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has completed his second encyclical, a meditation on Christian hope, Vatican sources said. The text, tentatively titled "Spe Salvi" ("Saved by Hope"), is about 65 pages, sources said Oct. 16. No release date has been set for the document. The working title comes from St. Paul's letter to the Romans, in which he wrote: "For in hope we have been saved." The encyclical is said to explore the Christian understanding of hope, with reference to modern philosophy and the challenges of disbelief. The pope worked on the encyclical this summer, when he had...

Federal Social Programs and Catholic PrinciplesOne of the fundamental differences between the “liberal” and “conservative” mentalities, at least in the United States, is the penchant of one for glorifying social programs and the other for glorifying capitalism and a free market system. Over the decades, but particularly today, politicians on both sides court the Catholic vote. The Catholic who votes liberal because of the social programs that are the legacy of 60-plus years of American socialization does so out of a sense of obligation. The argument is that the welfare system and other similar systems promoting social equality are more...

Vatican to release files on Pope Pius XI VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said Friday it will release from its secret archives years of files on Pope Pius XI, whose pontificate spanned most of the period between the world wars. The files cover the period from Feb. 6, 1922, to Feb. 10, 1939. Researchers will be allowed to access the files beginning Sept. 18. In 2003, the Vatican began making available to scholars millions of Vatican documents from the years leading up to World War II, making them available ahead of schedule at the request of Pope John Paul II....

Pope shares thoughts on loveBy Richard N. OstlingThe Associated PressJust in time for Valentine's Day, Pope Benedict XVI issued an encyclical letter on love. Popular prejudice thinks a Roman Catholic priest talking about human love is "like a blind man talking about colors," Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Vatican's council for charity, told reporters with a humorous touch unusual for Vatican news conferences. Turns out, a celibate, 78-year-old pontiff has perceptive things to say in his first encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" ("God Is Love"). Moreover, he says them with a clarity that could begin notable improvement in papal...

ROME, FEB. 9, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's new encyclical on love came as a surprise to most everyone. Some wags commented on the paradox of the "German Shepherd" exclaiming that God is Love. Others are amazed that the erstwhile watchdog of Church doctrine would choose to dedicate so much ink to social teachings. My surprise had nothing to do with this. I was floored when the Holy Father said he was inspired by Dante. During an audience with members of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" on Jan. 23, Benedict XVI introduced the new encyclical saying that the 14th-century Italian poet...

ENCYCLICAL LETTER DEUS CARITAS ESTOF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVITO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS AND ALL THE LAY FAITHFULON CHRISTIAN LOVEINTRODUCTION1. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. In the same verse, Saint John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: “We have come to know and...

Why I chose love as the theme of my first encyclical   Benedict XVI has published his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, God is love. Why did he write it? Why did he choose this theme? What was his intention? The Holy Father responds to these questions in the text below. The cosmic excursion in which Dante wants to involve the reader in his Divine Comedy ends before the everlasting light that is God himself, before that light which at the same time is the love “which moves the sun and the other stars” (Paradise XXXIII, verse 145). Light and...

ROMA, January 25, 2006 – Benedict XVI made his first encyclical public today, and like all papal encyclicals it takes its name from the first words of its Latin version: “Deus Caritas Est,” God is love. Why did he write it? Why did he choose this theme? What was his intention? Pope Joseph Ratzinger himself responds to these questions with crystalline clarity in the text reproduced below. The pope read this text the morning of Monday, January 23, to the participants at an international meeting promoted in the Vatican by the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum.” In reality, it is a...

Creation Reveals God and His Love    POPE BENEDICT XVI God's created works are the first sign of his existence and love, says Benedict XVI. From "the greatness and beauty of created things" one knows, by analogy, their author, the Pope said at today's general audience. He was commenting on Psalm 135(136):1-9, as part of his ongoing series of reflections on biblical passages used in the Liturgy of Vespers. "God does not appear in the Bible as an impassible and implacable Lord, or an obscure and indecipherable being, or fate, against whose mysterious force it is useless to struggle," the...

POPE BENEDICT XVI’s first important pronouncement has been delayed by an unprecedented tussle over the final wording between key Vatican departments and the Pope’s German household staff. Vatican officials said that the delay in publishing the encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, on the subject of love, was because of the Pope’s busy schedule over Christmas. Other Vatican sources said, however, that the reason was a disagreement over the translation of the final 50-page draft into various languages, inclu- ding English and Italian. The official language of encyclicals is Latin. Andrea Tornielli, the Pope’s biographer, said that Pope Benedict had put the...

Love should not be confused with lust, says PopeBy Hilary Clarke in Rome(Filed: 18/01/2006)Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical, expected in the next few days, warns believers not to confuse love with lust or degrade it "to mere sex".   It is Pope Benedict's first encyclical The encyclical, a papal letter to bishops that sets out Roman Catholic policy, discusses the relationship between "eros", or erotic love, and "agape", a Greek word referring to unconditional, spiritual and selfless love."It is not totally negative on eros," a Vatican source said. "It argues that eros under the right circumstances is OK."But the Pope...

Word 'round the campfire is that, contrary to earlier reports which announced a later debut, Deus Caritas Est, the first encyclical letter of Benedict XVI, will be released on Friday, 20 January, a week from today. Prior speculation had said that the first appearance of the document would come in an enhanced edition of the Pauline magazine Famiglia Cristiana on the 25th, the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul and therefore the major feast of the Pauline communities. On the morning of the 20th, according to reports in the Italian press, the traditional presentation press conference will be held...

Pope Benedict XVI may try to "save eros," in the first encyclical of his papacy, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George told the Chicago Sun-Times. George expects the new pope will try to explain that erotic love, eros, and unconditional love, agape, are both inherently good in God's eyes in his encyclical titled "Deus, Caritas Est," Latin for "God is Love." An encyclical is a pope's most authoritative document, a pastoral letter circulated to the universal church. Letter talks about Christ The cardinal has not yet seen Benedict XVI's encyclical, which is expected to be released by the Vatican within days, but...

Pope Benedict's first encyclical due in Dec-sourceVATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict has written his first encyclical, the highest form of papal writing addressed to all members of the Roman Catholic Church, a Vatican source said on Monday. The source said the encyclical, which is expected to be published before the end of the year, deals with one's personal relationship with God. The work is just under 50 pages long and will probably be published to coincide with the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, the source said. The source said the encyclical, written in the Pope's native...

The Pope and the Cause of Freedom by Jeffrey Tucker[Posted October 25, 2001]Ten years ago, Pope John Paul II released Centesimus Annus, an encyclical, at once subtle and sweeping, that addressed the future of the post-communist countries of Europe and the general subjects of freedom, society, and faith. The document represented the fullest embrace that the Catholic Church has given in the modern period to classical liberal ideas, particularly as they apply in the economic sphere. In CA, the Pope argues that socialism failed, not just because it was bad economics, but mainly because it rejected the "truth about ...

Excerpts... 1. "You shall draw waters with joy out of the Savior's fountain." These words by which the prophet Isaias, using highly significant imagery, foretold the manifold and abundant gifts of God which the Christian era was to bring forth, come naturally to Our mind when We reflect on the centenary of that year when Our predecessor of immortal memory, [Blessed] Pius IX, gladly yielding to the prayers from the whole Catholic world, ordered the celebration of the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Universal Church.... 11. There are others who reckon this same devotion burdensome...