The Social Documents of the

Catholic Church
Through Ecclesial Encyclicals
• Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labor) - Pope Leo XIII, 1891

• Quadragesimo Anno (After Forty Years) - Pope Pius XI, 1931

• Mater et Magistra (Christianity and Social Progress) - Pope John XXIII, 1961

• Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) - Pope John XXIII, 1963

• Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World) Vatican Council II, 1965

• Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples) - Pope Paul VI, 1967

• Octogesima Adveniens (A Call to Action) - Pope Paul VI, 1971

• Justicia in Mundo (Justice in the World) - Synod of Bishops, 1971

• Laborem Exercens (On Human Work) - Pope John Paul II, 1981 Outline summary | Full text

• Solicitudo Rei Socialis (On Social Concern) - Pope John Paul II, 1987

• Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) - Pope John Paul II, 1991

• Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love) - Pope Benedict XVI, 2005

• Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth) -Pope Benedict XVI, 2009

• Solicitudo Rei Socialis (On Social Concern) - Pope John
Paul II, 1987

• Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) - Pope John

Paul II, 1991

• Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love) - Pope Benedict XVI, 2005

• Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth) -Pope Benedict XVI,

2009
SOLICITUDO REI SOCIALIS
(ON SOCIAL CONCERN)

- Pope John Paul II, 1987

• This encyclical letter of Pope John Paul II,
published on the 30 December, 1987,
commemorates the 20th anniversary of
Populorum Progression ‘On the Development
of Peoples” of Pope Paul VI.
• Populorum Progressio had been published at a time when
development was a word to conjure with, in the sense that
there was general agreement that development was a smooth
and self-evolving process of transition that would lead the
developing countries swiftly and directly into a new world of
self-sufficiency and relative prosperity.
• At that time, it was generally felt that the same technological,
cultural and economic forces that had governed and made
possible the industrialisation and progressive well-being of the
Western developed countries could bring about a similar
advance in economic well-being, if applied to the economic
and social situations of the so-called “backward countries”.
• An encyclical on “development” was
therefore warmly welcomed and its
contents were much appreciated by
Christians and non-Christians alike for its
concern with development and the
strategies for its achievement.
• Unfortunately the main message of the encyclical,
that development was a deeply human and moral
process and not just economic growth, failed to
evoke any serious response from the centres of
economic and political decision-making.
• But can one say, twenty years after the
publication of the encyclical, that development
understood purely as a process of economic
growth has been fully or even partially realised?
• The purpose of the social encyclical of Pope
John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis is to
scrutinise the present unhealthy social
situation in the light of the Gospel and provide
guidelines for its transformation.
 What is Development?
• The Pope maintains in his encyclical
that he wants to achieve two
objectives:
– to pay homage to the historic document of
Paul VI and to its teaching,
– and secondly, to reaffirm the continuity of
the social doctrine of the Church as well as
its constant renewal, since such teaching is
of perennial value (#3)
• This necessity of continual “aggiornamento” arises
from the fact that we are living in a dynamic world,
which though preserving some fundamental
constant elements, has undergone notable changes
and presents some totally new aspects.
• On the other hand, we are on the eve of the third
Christian millennium that is characterized by a
widespread expectancy that touches everyone.
• Hence the need for a fuller and more nuanced
concept of development.
• He then points out to the outstanding originality of
Populorum Progressio.
• While carrying on the tradition of concern of Gaudium et
Spes, with the joys and the sorrows, the griefs and anxieties
of the people of this age as manifested under the forms of
poverty and under-development, and assessing their impact
in the light of the Gospel teaching, Pope Paul VI was keenly
aware of the global nature of these problems, of the profound
inequalities between rich and poor in every society, and
between rich nations and poor nations.
• He predicted the dangers to international peace caused by
such injustices.
• In the Christian vision, development cannot be
limited to mere economic growth. “In order to be
authentic, it must be complete: integral, that is, it
has to promote the good of every man and of the
whole man”.
• Indeed the present situation of the world
demands concerted action based on a clear vision
of all economic, social, cultural and spiritual
aspects in this global vision of man and of the
human race.
 The contemporary world
• Naturally in his own survey of the contemporary
world, John Paul II notes that the hopes for
development, once so lively, today appear very far
from being realised. In fact, the former optimism
has given way to a deep pessimism.
• Despite some advance and progress, the overall
situation is rather negative.
• There is first of all the widening of the gap between
the areas of the so-called developed North and the
developing South.
 The contemporary world
• However the frontiers of wealth and poverty
intersect within national societies themselves.
• The great inequality in the distribution of
foodstuffs, hygiene, health, drinking water
and working conditions persists.
• Added to this divergence are the differences
of culture and value systems, which do not
match the pace of economic development and
make the social question even more complex.
• We should realise that we are living in one world,
but the fact that we speak of First, Second, Third
and even Fourth worlds means that the unity of
the human race is seriouly compromised.
• Further, the economic and social indices of
progress reveal the lack of human skilled
resources to build the new nations, and the
prevalence of various forms of exploitation,
oppression and unemployment.
• Even the right of economic initiative is often
suppressed, as well as the power of personal
decision. This could be applied as well to the
control by nations over sovereign national rights.
The Pope condemns in particular political parties
and leaders who usurp the role of leadership in
many countries, permitting no other party to
exist, and who also use corrupt methods to
retain their power. This is a subtle form of
totalitarianism.
• Similarly, it is a sad fact that in many parts of today’s
world, human rights to liberty, free speech, and
choice of avocation are ruthlessly suppressed.
• Indeed modern under-development is not only
economic, he observes, but cultural, political and
simply human as well.
• Further, there are the social systems or mechanisms
of our days in which the weaker are often
manipulated by the stronger, whether these
mechanisms be economic, political or social.
 Interdependence
• Despite the geo-political fragmentation of the
present-day world, — the First, Second, Third and
even Fourth world—their interdependence
remains close, notes the Pope. Indeed in his
encyclical, the word “interdependence” assumes a
key role in an understanding of the contemporary
social question and acts as a pointer to its solution,
in so far as it forms a kind of economic matrix for
the moral argument enshrined in the word
“solidarity”.
 According to the encyclical:
• When this interdependence is separated from its ethical
requirements, it has disastrous consequences for the weakest.
Indeed as a result of a sort of internal dynamic and under the
impulse of mechanisms which can only be called perverse, this
interdependence triggers negative effects even in the rich
countries. It is precisely within these countries that one
encounters, though on a lesser scale, the more specific
manifestations of underdevelopment. Thus it should be obvious
that development either becomes shared in common by every
part of the world or it undergoes a process of regression even in
zones marked by constant progress. This tells us a great deal
about the nature of authentic development: either all the
nations of the world participate, or it will not be true
development. (#17)
• To prove his point, the Pope cites instances of
underdevelopment which increasingly affect the
developed countries as well:
• the housing crisis, due to the growing
phenomenon of urbanization; unemployment
and underemployment on such a large scale that
demonstrates that there is something wrong
with the organization of work and employment
not only at the national but at the world level.
• And finally there is the problem of international debt. The
capital loaned for productive purposes, due to changes
both in the debtor as well as the creditor countries, has
been turned into a counter-productive mechanism.
• This mechanism that was intended as a means for the
development of peoples has turned into a brake upon
development and has even aggravated
underdevelopment.
• In the light of these consequences of false development,
one needs to reflect on the ethical character of the
interdependence of peoples.
 Two Opposing Blocs
• One of the serious reasons for the lack of
development in today’s world is the political
factor, manifesting itself in the existence of
two opposing blocs commonly known as the
East and the West.
• More than being political alone, the
opposition is geo-political as well, dividing
nations and peoples into separate regions and
regimes.
• This political opposition however is based on
deep ideological differences. In the West,
there exists the system of liberal capitalism,
and in the East there is the system inspired by
Marxist collectivism.
• Each of these two ideologies is based on two very
different visions of man and of his freedom and his
social role. Consequently, on the economic level,
each system proposes antithetical forms of
organization of labour and of the structures of
ownership, specifically of the means of production.
• Worse still, each system with its own peculiar forms
of propaganda and indoctrination has transformed
ideological opposition into military opposition, of
which we are all quite aware today. (#20)
• As the Holy Father is at pains to point out, the
tension between East and West is not an
opposition between two levels of
development, but extends to two opposing
concepts of development of individuals and
peoples. Both these concepts are incorrect
and require radical transformation.
• The fact that the Pope placed these two
systems on an equal plane and demanded
even of the so-called liberal capitalist system a
radical change, aroused much resentment
and criticism in the Western world. One
cannot forget that liberal capitalism has its
roots in the philosophy of the Enlightment of
the 18th Century.
• The glorification of the individual and of individualistic self-
interest, the blind belief in scientific progress, and the
seeking of profit as the mainspring of the economic system
has led to unchecked consumerism and the total lack of any
conception of social responsibility.
• Indeed in practice the system can produce a type of “super-
developed” individual, completely consumeristic in his
outlook, and desirous of having more merely for the sake of
having more.
• His own intrinsic development is completely neglected. In
fact we have here a new model of “under-development”.
(#28)
 Authentic human development
• Pope John Paul II underlines the importance of authentic
human development in accordance with man’s vocation,
which he finds revealed in Sacred Scripture.
• Created by God in his image, man has a special task to fulfill:
to have dominion over other created things and through
this dominion to realize his vocation or perfect himself.
• Thus development cannot consist only in dominion over and
the indiscriminate possession and use of created things and
the products of human industry; it rather lies in
subordinating the possession, dominion and use to man’s
vocation to immortality.
• The story of man down the centuries is one of ceaseless
personal and collective effort to raise up our human
condition and to overcome the obstacles along our way
caused by sin and its consequences on the human mind
and body.
• Fortunately the power of sin has been conquered and
redeemed by the “reconciliation” accomplished by
Christ. And our human struggle for higher levels of
human existence prepares us to share in the fullness
which “dwells in the Lord” and which he communicates
“to his body, which is the Church”.
• Thus the dream of “unlimited progress” takes
on a new perspective created by Christian
faith, assuring us that progress is possible only
because God the Father has decided from the
beginning to make man a sharer of his glory in
Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.
• In him, God wished to conquer sin and make it
serve our greater good, which infinitely
surpassed what human progress could achieve.
• As we struggle amidst the obscurities and deficiencies
of underdevelopment and superdevelopment, we
have a clear vision of our final destiny and of that of
our accomplishments — God’s plan to order all
things in the fullness which dwells in Christ.
• It is this faith and the vision inspired by it that impels
the Church to concern itself with the problem of
development and to urge men to think about the
nature and characteristics of authentic human
development. (#28-31)
 Obligation
• In this manner, however, the Church also
responds to its fundamental vocation of being
a “sacrament”, that is to say “a sign and
instrument of intimate union with God and of
the unity of the whole human race”.
• It can thus provide an optimistic vision of the
meaning of history and of human work, and of
the perennial value of human achievement.
• It is in this context, that there emerges the
conviction and the traditional practice of the
Church and its members to relieve misery and
suffering, both far and near, not only out of their
“abundance”, but also out of their “necessities”.
• In doing so, a new hierarchy of values is
established especially regarding the right to
private property; in particular when concentrated
in the hands of a few to the detriment of many
others.
• Furthermore, to participate in development
takes on a new character of obligation. Not
only must each individual contribute his share
to human betterment, but it is the duty of
each and every man and woman, as well as
societies and nations, to participate in this
effort.
 Sin and the Structures of Sin
• Obviously, the inhibiting economic factors are
embedded in social relationships that
constitute often rigid social structures that
tend to perpetuate diverse forms of injustice
and exploitation.
• As Pope John Paul notes, the decisions which
either accelerate or slow down development
of peoples are really political in character, and
therefore essentially moral decisions.
• The prevalence of the two blocs, based on
rigid ideologies and where interdependence
and solidarity are replaced by different forms
of imperialism that work against the common
good, establishes and sustains the existence of
social sin, that is really the result of many
individual and personal sins.
• These sinful structures encompass two very
typical ones of our age:
• the all consuming desire for profit and the
thirst for power.
• In the behaviour of the men of our times, these
two attitudes and ways of thinking tend to be
absolutized in the sense that both profit and
power are sought after “at any price”, with no
consideration of the consequences for others.
• In this rather unusual analysis of the social situation,
the encyclical makes a distinction between socio-
political analysis and a moral analysis which uses as
its criteria the will of the Triune God, his plan for
humanity, his justice and his mercy.
• Indeed, the «God who is rich in mercy, the
Redeemer of man, the Lord and Giver of Life,
requires from people clearcut attitudes which
express themselves also in actions or omissions
towards one’s neighbour”.
• The absence of such behaviour implies an offence against God
and injuring one’s neighbour, and introduces into the world
influences and obstacles that go far beyond the actions and
the brief lifespan of an individual.
• It also brings about a slowness and often a break-away from
development.
• In other words, these structures of sin, represented through
the decisions, apparently inspired only by economic and
political reasons, are really forms of idolatry: of money,
ideology, class and technology.
• This is the true nature of the obstacle that faces mankind in
the long complex process towards development.
 Conclusions
• Before bringing his encyclical to a close, Pope
John Paul II mentions some guidelines for a
practical application of his teaching to the
prevailing world situation.
• In the first place, authentic development is not
a “technical” problem. That is why the Church
has something to say about this important
process in man’s history.
• Secondly, the social doctrine of the Church is the
instrument employed for this purpose. But it is not
a “third way” between liberal capitalism and
Marxist collectivism, nor a possible alternative to
other solutions, nor an ideology.
• It is rather an accurate formulation of the results of
careful reflection on today’s human situation in the
light of faith and the Church’s tradition; its main
aim being to interpret these realities and guide
Christian behaviour.
• Thirdly, the teaching and spreading of her social doctrine
are part of the Church’s evangelizing mission, of guiding
people’s behaviour, of condemning evils and injustices,
and of exercising its prophetic role of proclaiming the
Christian message.
• Fourthly, in this effort, the social teaching embraces an
international outlook and concern, but it also focalizes
its interest on the option or love of preference for the
poor. This is an option or a special form of primacy in the
exercise of Christian charity, not only at the local or the
national but at the international level as well. (#41-42)
• In the final pages, the encyclical refers to the new way of
confronting the problem of poverty in many Third World
countries, know as liberation, which tends to replace
development as the fundamental category and the
principle of action. (#46)
• But the Pope points to the positive values as well as the
risks and the deviations both in the theological reflection
and the methods connected with its practice.
• He therefore pleads for an authentic liberation, that
must take into account the cultural, transcendental and
religious dimensions of man.
CENTESIMUS ANNUS,
(THE HUNDREDTH YEAR)

Pope John Paul II, May 1, 1991

 Introduction
• Centesimus Annus begins with a restatement and a current
application of the major principles of Rerum Novarum.
• Pope John Paul II then addresses the relationship of the
Church’s social teaching to major trends and events in the
past one hundred years with a special emphasis on the
events in Eastern Europe in 1989.
• He misses no opportunity to affirm human dignity and
human rights.
• The encyclical notes the fall of “Real Socialism,” but cautions
against thinking that this fall signifies a victory for capitalism.
 The Background
• Centesimus Annus was promulgated in May
1991, after the collapse of socialism in most of
Eastern Europe and the conclusion of the
Persian Gulf War, but before the collapse of
the Communist Party in the Soviet Union.
• The encyclical, the ninth of John Paul II’s
pontificate, commemorates the one
hundredth anniversary of Rerum Novarum.
 The Summary
• Rerum Novarum is of “great importance” for
the Church; the “vital energies” it unleashed
continue to increase (#1).
• Rerum Novarum can be used to help look back
at fundamental principles, “look around” at
new events, and look to the future (#3).
• An analysis of history and current events is
essential to the Church’s mission of
evangelization (#3).
Characteristics of Rerum Novarum
• Rerum Novarum attempted to respond to the
conflict between capital and labor (#5).
• Leo XIII gave the Church a paradigm and a corpus to
analyze, judge, and indicate directions for social
realities (#5).
• To teach and spread her social doctrine is an
essential part of the Church’s evangelizing mission
(#5).
• There can be no genuine solution to the “social
question” apart from the Gospel (#5).
• Rerum Novarum strongly affirms the dignity of work and
the rights to private property, private associations, a just
wage, and to discharge freely religious duties (#6-9).
• Rerum Novarum’s criticism of socialism and liberalism is
still relevant today (#10).
• Rerum Novarum’s emphasis on the rights of the poor
and the defenseless gives testimony to the continuity of
the option for the poor (#11).
• The guiding light of Rerum Novarum is its view of human
dignity (#11)
Toward the “New Things” of Today
• The fundamental error of socialism is its
misunderstanding of the human person as simply an
element (#13).
• This error springs from atheism and results in a
distortion of law and human freedom (#13).
• Atheism and contempt for the human person cause
class struggle and militarism (#14)
• The State, respectful of the principle of subsidiarity,
has a positive role to play in determining the
juridical framework of economic affairs (#15).
• The role of the workers’ movement in economic reform
has been an important one (#16).
• Rerum Novarum opposed ideologies of hatred and
showed how violence could be overcome by justice
(#17).
• Since 1945, in Europe, there has been a situation of
non-war but not genuine peace:
• many people lost the ability to control their own
destiny;
• an “insane” arms race swallowed up vital resources;
• violent extremist groups found ready support;
• the atomic threat oppressed the world (#18).
• After World War II, decolonization occurred. Genuine
independence of developing nations is impeded by
foreign economic and political control and the lack of
a competent professional class (#20).
• Since 1945, the awareness of human rights—with the
United Nations as a focal point—has grown (#21).
• The UN has not yet succeeded in establishing a
continuously favorable development aid policy or an
effective system of conflict resolution as an
alternative to war (#21).
 The Year 1989
• In 1989:
– in Eastern Europe, oppressive regimes fell;
– some Third World countries began a transition to more
just and participatory structures (#22).
• The Church’s commitment to defend and promote human
rights was an important contribution to the events of
1989 (#22).
• Factors that contributed to the fall of oppressive regimes:
– violation of workers’ rights (#23);
– inefficiency of the economic system (#24);
– spiritual void brought about by atheism (#24).
• Non-violent, peaceful protest accomplished almost all of the
changes in Eastern Europe (#23).
• The events of 1989 would be unthinkable without prayer and
trust in God (#25).
• The events of 1989 illustrate opportunities for human freedom to
cooperate with the plan of God who acts in history (#26).
• In some countries, the events of 1989 resulted from an
encounter between the Church and the workers’ movement
(#26).
• The events of 1989 illustrated that the Church’s social doctrine of
(as well as concrete commitment to) integral human liberation
does not necessitate an “impossible” compromise between
Christianity and Marxism (#26).
• International structures that can help rebuild, economically and
morally, the countries that have abandoned communism are
needed (#27).
• Marxism’s fall has highlighted human interdependence (#27).
• Peace and prosperity are goods that belong to the whole human
race (#27).
• Aid for Eastern Europe, without a slackening of aid for the Third
World, is needed (#28).
• There must be a change in priorities and values on which
economic and political choices are made (#28).
• The advancement of the poor is an opportunity for the moral,
cultural, and economic growth of all humanity (#28).
• Development must be seen in fully human, and not merely
economic, terms (#29).
 Private Property and the Universality of
Material Goods
• Catholic social teaching affirms a right to private property that is
limited by the common purpose of goods (#30).
• Work, which is in our day work with and for others, is the human
response to God’s gifts (#31).
• The possession of know-how, technology, and skill is surpassing
land as the decisive factor of production (#32).
• The majority of people today do not have the means or the
possibility of acquiring the basic knowledge to enter the world of
technology and intercommunication. They are thus exploited or
marginalized (#33).
• The human inadequacies of capitalism are far from disappearing
(#33).
• Many human needs are not satisfied in a free market
economy (#34).
• It is a “strict duty of justice and truth” and a
requirement of dignity to help needy people acquire
expertise and develop the skill to enter the modern
economy (#34).
• The State needs to control the market to guarantee
that the basic needs of society are satisfied (#35).
• A business firm is a community of persons,
endeavoring to meet their basic needs, who form a
group at the service of society (#35).
• Human and moral factors are just as important as profit to the
life of a business (#35).
• The defeat of “Real Socialism” does not leave capitalism as the
only model of economic organization (#35).
• Stronger nations must offer weaker nations the opportunity to
take their place in the international order (#35).
• The foreign debt of poorer countries needs to be handled in a
way that respects the rights of peoples to subsistence and
progress (#35).
• Consumerism has created attitudes and lifestyles which damage
the physical and spiritual health of human beings (#36).
• It is necessary to create lifestyles in which the quest for truth,
beauty, goodness, and the common good determine choices
(#36).
• The mass media has a special role to play in fostering a sense of
general responsibility (#36).
• The ecological question emphasizes human responsibility to future
generations (#37).
• Social structures can create environments conducive to sin which
impede full human realization (#38).
• The family, founded on marriage, is the sanctuary of life (#39).
• True human alienation happens when a person refuses to transcend
the self and live a self-giving life in an authentic human community
that is oriented toward God (#41).
• The Marxist solution has failed, but marginalization, exploitation,
and alienation still exist in the Third World (#42).
• The Church’s social teaching should serve as an orientation, rather
than as a model, toward solving problems (#43).
 State and Culture
• The root of modem totalitarianism is found in its denial
of the transcendental dignity of the human person (#44).
• In defending her own freedom, the Church defends the
dignity of the human person (#45).
• The Church values any democratic system that ensures
its citizens’ ability to participate in it (#46).
• Democratic systems need to solidify their foundations
by explicitly recognizing certain rights, especially the
rights to life, to work, and to establish a family (#47).
• Some democracies have lost the ability to make decisions
for the common good (#48).
• States, respecting subsidiarity, need to guarantee freedom,
security, and human rights (#48).
• The “Social Assistance” State leads to a loss of human energies;
an inordinate increase in bureaucratic public agencies is not the
best way to solve these problems (#48).
• The Church-through charity, solidarity, and volunteer work—has
always been among the needy (#49).
• A culture achieves its character through the search for truth
(#50).
• The Church’s contribution to culture is to form human hearts for
peace and justice (#51).
• A culture of peace needs to promote development and provide
the poor with realistic opportunities (#52).
• This task may necessitate changes in lifestyle that reduce the
waste of resources (#52).
 Humans as the Way of the Church
• The Church’s purpose is the care and responsibility not
only for humankind, but also for each individual (#53).
• The Church’s social teaching is an instrument of
evangelization for salvation (#54).
• The Church receives the “meaning of humankind”
from Divine Revelation (#55).
• The Western countries run the risk of seeing the
collapse of “Real Socialism” as a victory for their own
systems and may fail to make necessary changes in
those systems (#56).
• The social basis of the Gospel must function as a basis
and motivation for action because witnessing for justice
and peace is more credible than logical arguments (#57).
• The option for the poor is not limited to material poverty
but encompasses cultural and material poverty as well
(#57).
• Love is made concrete in the promotion of justice which
requires changes in lifestyles, models of production and
consumption, and structures of power (#58).
• Grace is needed for the demands of justice to be met
(#59).
• The Church’s social teaching enters into dialogue with
the other disciplines concerned with humankind (#59).
• People who profess no religious beliefs can contribute
to providing the social question an ethical foundation
(#60).
• The Church feels obliged to denounce poverty and
injustice although her call will not find favor with all
(#61).
DEUS CARITAS EST
(GOD IS LOVE)

- Pope Benedict XVI, 2005

 Innovation:
• In an attempt to transcend time and cultural
boundaries, Benedict’s first 16 citations are not
from scripture or doctrine, but from authors that
reflect all of humanity and human culture:
Nietzsche, Virgil, Descartes, Gregory the Great,
• Aristotle, Plato, and Sallust are just a few of them.
• Theme: Love is service. Our relationship with God
(our Love of God) is only as good as our
relationship (or love) of those around us.
• As his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est is
considered “programmatic,” in that it lays out
fundamental themes that Benedict considers
of prime importance for the Church of today,
themes he is expected to refer back to in the
future.
 Main Points:
• Benedict’s first encyclical reveals the "teacher"
and intellectual that he is as he devotes the
majority of it to explaining the true meaning
of the words Eros (love of attraction -
ascending love) and Agape (self-sacrificing
love of the other - descending love).
• In the first of two parts of the encyclical Benedict
examined the fundamental theological truth of God as
love, along with the relationship between divine love
and human love, and the possibility of truly loving God
and neighbor.
• Those familiar with the theological works of Joseph
Ratzinger will find a text in line with his previous
writings, both in style and content.
• The true surprise of the encyclical comes with the
second part, which focuses on the charitable work of the
Church as a communion of believers.
• Eros has been misinterpreted over the years
and Benedict works to realign it as a reflection
of divine love.
• When following Christ, Eros is transformed
into Agape - love for one’s neighbor - and love
of God and neighbor are truly united; "the
essence of the love of God and of one's
neighbor described in the Bible is the center of
Christian life, it is the fruit of faith."
• Since this is also the mission of the Church, ecclesial
charity is clarified while endorsing the separation of
Church and State.
• However, the lay faithful have the "direct duty to
work for a just ordering of society." Details are given
in regards to the "multiple structures of,"
"distinctiveness of," and "those responsible" for the
church’s charitable activity.
• With this illumination of the true meaning of love -
Agape - the faithful are reminded that our work for
justice offers us humility, must come from a place of
love, and is impossible to accomplish without God’s
hand.
• In this second part of the encyclical, Benedict expressly
referenced the Church’s social doctrine, and elaborated on it
in new and innovative ways.
• He listed some of the key social encyclicals, as his
predecessors had often done, and recalled the origins of
modern social teaching in the pressing need for a new
approach to a just structuring of society in the aftermath of
the industrial revolution.
• His careful consideration of the social question in the light of
the theological virtue of charity, however, offered an original
contribution to Catholic social doctrine and merits serious
study.
 Church and State
• The central insight of Benedict’s social teaching in
Deus Caritas Est concerns the complementary
relationship between Church and State, between
faith and reason, and between charity and justice.
• In his extended reflections on the topic, which
comprise nearly the entire second half of the
encyclical, Benedict offered an original
contribution to Catholic social thought, while
remaining firmly rooted in the tradition.
• The Church lives by faith and dedicates herself to
charity, while the State is called to live by practical
reason and dedicate itself to justice. As the Church
cannot guarantee justice, neither can the State
guarantee charity. Despite this clear distinction,
however, Benedict insists that the two realities are
closely interwoven and mutually enriching. Though we
must distinguish between Church and State and their
respective roles, we must not seek to separate them.
“The two spheres are distinct, yet always interrelated”
(#28a).
• Benedict begins his discussion on justice and
charity as an answer to critics, especially
Marxism, that posit a necessary antagonism
and incompatibility between justice and charity.
• According to this ideology, justice can only be
achieved when charity is abolished, since
insistence on charity only serves to preserve
and propagate the status quo with its injustices
(#cf26)
• To this criticism, Benedict responds that
charity and justice complement one another
and must advance hand in hand, as allies
rather than adversaries.
• One cannot supplant the other since both are
truly necessary. Even in a perfectly just
political environment, charity would not be
superfluous.
• Benedict takes up the perennial message of
Catholic social teaching that the State exists
for the sake of the common good, to insure a
just ordering of human society. He notes that
“the pursuit of justice must be a fundamental
norm of the State and that the aim of a just
social order is to guarantee to each person,
according to the principle of subsidiarity, his
share of the community’s goods” (#26).
• More succinctly still, Benedict states: “The
just ordering of society and the State is a
central responsibility of politics,” since justice
“is both the aim and the intrinsic criterion of
all politics” (#28a)
• The Church recognizes, respects, and supports
this proper role of the State, and has no wish
to usurp its competencies.
• Contrary to the fears of some, Benedict
asserted that Catholic social doctrine “has no
intention of giving the Church power over the
State.”
• A moment later Benedict repeats: “The
Church cannot and must not take upon herself
the political battle to bring about the most just
society possible. She cannot and must not
replace the State” (#28a).
• The Church gratefully recognizes the
“autonomy of the temporal sphere” as well as
her own inadequacy for assuring a just
ordering of society,
 The Church’s Service to Society
• Just as the State has a proper competency, so does the
Church. In Deus Caritas Est,
• Benedict offers a historical analysis of the Church’s
institutional commitment to charity, tracing its origins to
the apostolic period, as an essential characteristic of the
Church’s mission and self-identity.
• This institutional commitment is not only a historically
verifiable practice, however, but a necessary activity
stemming from the Church’s identity, and willed by her
Founder.
• “The Church cannot neglect the service of charity any
more than she can neglect the Sacraments and the
Word” (#22).
• The Church’s practice of social charity preceded by many
centuries its theoretical exposition in modern Catholic
social doctrine, and constitutes one of her distinctive
activities tied to her very identity and mission.
• Social charity was assimilated, lived, and institutionalized
long before it became an object of systematic study.
• In the practice of Christian charity, Benedict recognizes a
hierarchy, in that love of neighbor is “first and foremost a
responsibility for each individual,” and only secondarily a
task for the entire ecclesial community. Yet this communal
task is still essential. “As a community, the Church must
practice love” (no. 20).
• Moreover, this love is not merely a haphazard,
spontaneous outpouring of beneficence, but
an “ordered service” to the community, and
thus Benedict can define the Church’s
“diakonia” as “the ministry of charity exercised
in a communitarian, orderly way” (#21).
 “three-fold responsibility”
• The Church’s dedication to service—diakonia
—grew up alongside her dedication to
proclaiming God’s word (kerygma-martyria)
and the celebration of the sacraments
(leitourgia), such that the three form her
“three-fold responsibility” (#25a).
 As Christ So we Church
• One can draw an interesting parallel here to Christ
triplex munus as priest, prophet and king, only here
the munus regale becomes an office of service,
rather than of rule, in line with Jesus’ new teaching
regarding the exercise of authority. (Matt 20:25-28).
• From the earliest days of Christianity the Church
assumed this responsibility, and “love for widows
and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of
every kind, is as essential to her as the ministry of
the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel” (#22).
• It was, according to Benedict, with the naming
of the first seven deacons (Acts 6:5-6) that
diakonia became “part of the fundamental
structure of the Church” (#21).
• Benedict traces the ecclesial institutionalization
of her charitable outreach through the diakonia
of each monastery in Egypt (middle of the fourth
century) to its formal incorporation “with full
juridical standing” by the sixth century (#23).
• As Church structures evolved, so did the
centers of charitable activity, and the office of
diakonia was not solely a monastic institution,
but existed at the level of the individual
dioceses as well. From this institution the
present worldwide organization of Caritas
evolved.
• Benedict claims for the Church a right to
practice charity, and to do so on her own
terms. “For the Church,” Benedict insists,
“charity is not a kind of welfare activity which
could equally well be left to others, but is a
part of her nature, an indispensable
expression of her very being” (#25a).
• In other words, charitable outreach constitutes
for the Church an opus proprium, “in which she
does not cooperate collaterally, but acts as a
subject with direct responsibility, doing what
corresponds to her nature” (#29). It is thus
important not only as a community service, for
the sake of those served, but also for those
serving, as a necessary expression of their
Christian faith and of the nature of the Church.
• The thought that if only social structures could be
better ordered, charity would become superfluous
manifests a subtle error, that of a materialist view
of the human person, or, in Benedict’s words, “the
mistaken notion that man can live ‘by bread
alone’” (#28b).
• By denying the person’s deeper spiritual and
emotional needs, this conviction “demeans man
and ultimately disregards all that is specifically
human” (#28b).
 According to Benedict, Christian charity distinguishes
itself from social assistance in three key ways.

• First, Christian charity must provide a “simple

response to immediate needs,” in a professionally
competent manner but above all with “heartfelt
concern,” since human beings need more than
technically proper care; “they need humanity”
(#31a). This concern is fruit of a “formation of the
heart” proper to Christians who have
encountered God in Christ, “which awakens their
love and opens their spirits to others” (#31a).
• Second, Christian charitable activity must be
distinguished by its independence of “parties and
ideologies.” Present needs are not ignored or sacrificed
to future gains, since “One does not make the world
more human by refusing to act humanely here and now.”
The Christian’s program is “a heart which sees” where
love is needed and acts accordingly (#31b).
• In short, personnel who carry out the Church’s charitable
activity “must not be inspired by ideologies aimed at
improving the world, but should rather be guided by the
faith which works through love” (#33).
• Third, and perhaps surprisingly, Benedict notes that
Christian charity “cannot be used as a means of
engaging in what is nowadays considered proselytism,”
since love is free, and cannot be practiced as a means
of achieving other ends. And yet while such charitable
activity must reject aggressive proselytizing, and
cannot bind kindness to doctrinal prerequisites,
Christians engaged in charitable outreach do not
renounce their witness to Christ, since freely given
love is itself the strongest testimony of God’s
presence.
• Thus Christians “realize that a pure and
generous love is the best witness to the God in
whom we believe and by whom we are driven
to love” (#31c). It is their love itself that
witnesses to Christ. God is love, and “God’s
presence is felt at the very time when the only
thing we do is to love” (#31c).
 The Church’s Service to the State
• Despite the distinct fields of activity proper to
Church and State, they are not separate nor
unrelated. The Church, in fact, not only serves
human society through her charitable activity; she
also provides a specific service to the State in the
latter’s mission of procuring justice and the
common good. While the Church is not responsible
for this mission, she does offer a critical ancillary
function. She does this, Benedict says, in a twofold
way, one indirect, the other direct.
• First, through her social teaching the Church serves
the State indirectly by helping it answer the question:
What is justice? The State is properly concerned with
the common good, but it needs help in discerning the
nature of this good and its concrete requirements.
The Church, says Benedict, has an “indirect duty,” in
that “she is called to contribute to the purification of
reason and to the reawakening of those moral forces
without which just structures are neither established
nor prove effective in the long run” (#29).
• Practical reason needs purification, since
political reason always risks ethical blindness
because of the influence of power and special
interests (#28a). In this context, faith is “a
purifying force for reason itself,” since it
“liberates reason from its blind spots and
therefore helps it to be ever more fully itself”
(#28a).
• Here Benedict presents a simple yet profound
synthesis of Catholic social doctrine, whose
aim “is simply to help purify reason and to
contribute, here and now, to the
acknowledgment and attainment of what is
just” (#28a). For Benedict, Catholic social
teaching is more than a discipline internal to
theological studies; it is a gift to society.
• Through her social doctrine, the Church
“wishes to help form consciences in political
life and to stimulate greater insight into the
authentic requirements of justice as well as
greater readiness to act accordingly” (#28a).
• Here we can discern the parallel service that
exists among the three pairs of Church-State,
faith-reason, and charity-justice. They
complement and serve one another, without
wishing to assume the other’s proper
competencies. Just as charity completes justice,
so faith is called to purify and perfect reason,
so that it can be truly itself and discover the
objective demands of the just order.
• Benedict asserts, the Church’s social teaching
“argues on the basis of reason and natural law,
namely, on the basis of what is in accord with
the nature of every human being” (no. 28a). In
this way the Church addresses her social
teaching to all men and women of good will,
and participates in civil discourse relying on
the common tools of reason and human
experience.
• Along with this indirect duty, which the Church
carries out through her social teaching, there
is a direct service to the political task that the
Church carries out through the political
engagement of the lay faithful. As citizens of
the State, the lay faithful “are called to take
part in public life in a personal capacity” (#29).
• The Church’s direct engagement with the just
ordering of society, then, is not carried out
institutionally, but personally. Charity and
justice converge in the hearts and souls of the
lay faithful who, moved by love, work for
justice (#29). Called to build up the social
order according to the principles of the
Gospel, the lay faithful take part fully in civil
society and political life.
The Nature of Christian Charitable Service

• A distinctive contribution of Deus Caritas Est is

its extensive description of Christian charitable
activity and how it is to be carried out. While this
may seem only tangentially an aspect of the
Church’s social teaching, in reality it is central to
Catholic teaching regarding a Christian’s role in
society. It is hinted at in earlier Magisterial texts,
but never treated with the depth or breadth it
finds in Deus Caritas Est.
• In the first place, Benedict describes this charitable
work as fruit of the love of Christ, rather than mere
philanthropic goodwill or sentimental compassion
for the sufferings and needs of others. More than
anything, he writes, “they must be persons moved
by Christ’s love, persons whose hearts Christ has
conquered with his love, awakening within them a
love of neighbour” (#33). It is these Christian souls,
touched and conquered by the love of Jesus, who
carry out Christian charity in all its fullness.
• Second, Benedict insists that true Christian charity can
never be reduced to efficient, technical activity, but must
be moved by true love for the person. Taking his cue from
Saint Paul’s hymn to charity, which Benedict describes as
“the Magna Carta of all ecclesial service,” he notes that
“If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be
burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor 13:3).
Merely feeding the poor is never enough from a Christian
perspective. “Practical activity will always be insufficient,
unless it visibly expresses a love for man, a love nourished
by an encounter with Christ” (#34)
• Moreover, the gifts one gives of time and
material goods must be an expression of
personal selfdonation, which lies at the heart
of charity. “I must give to others not only
something that is my own, but my very self; I
must be personally present in my gift” (#34).
• This self-donation ties directly to Benedict’s
third consideration: that Christian charitable
activity must be characterized by the virtue of
humility. In philanthropic work there is always
a danger that one may assume an attitude of
superiority vis-a-vis the beneficiary of one’s
service, and in so doing, humiliate the one
being served.
• Benedict notes that the way to overcome such an
attitude is by realizing that when we serve others,
we are the first beneficiaries. It is a gift to be able
to help others. “Those who are in a position to
help others will realize that in doing so they
themselves receive help” (#35). Further, this
service leads us to discover our own neediness:
“The more we do for others, the more we
understand and can appropriate the words of
Christ: ‘We are useless servants’” (#35).
• The practice of humility enables the Christian
to eschew ideological utopianism, or vain
protagonism. The knowledge that, in the end,
we are only instruments in the Lord’s hands
“frees us from the presumption of thinking
that we alone are personally responsible for
building a better world” (#35).
 Conclusion
• This Encyclical contains an exceptional amount
of material pertinent to the Church’s ongoing
social teaching. Making no pretensions to
comprehensiveness, Benedict specifically
delved into the question of the Church’s
commitment to ordered charitable activity,
necessarily distinguishing it from the State’s
complementary effort to promote and defend
justice and the common good.
• In so doing, he provided a fresh synthesis of the
Church’s understanding of Church-State relations
and the competencies proper to each. He also
showed, as no pope had done before, what the
Church’s specifically contributes to the social
order, and outlined the characteristics of
Christian charity that both distinguish it from
philanthropy and social assistance, and define it
as identifiably Christian.
• He also presented clear teaching regarding the
service rendered by the Church to the State in
its efforts to procure justice. Reiterating that
the Church neither has the will nor the
competence to replace the State in this
important responsibility, she does however
offer a twofold assistance.
• Through her social teaching, reasoning with
principles of the natural law, she helps purify the
State’s understanding of social justice and its
requirements. As mother and teacher, the Church
furnishes sound principles to form consciences and
provoke discussion regarding the exigencies of the
common good. Along with this indirect aid, the
Church also offers direct assistance through the
engagement of the lay faithful in the political
process and in the different strata of social life.
• Part of the beauty of this important encyclical,
made possible—paradoxically—from the fact
that it is not a “social encyclical,” is its
extended theological treatment of the central
virtue of charity in the Christian life. Benedict
was able to seamlessly wed the Church’s
charitable activity to the inner life of the
Trinity itself and the Christian vocation to
image this life in the practice of love.
• Love of neighbor stands at the core of the Christian
moral life and reveals itself particularly through the
charitable activity of Christians in the social sphere
—both institutionally and personally. Thus
theology manifests its essential unity as a single
science, with doctrine and morals nourishing one
another in mutual implication. Though it will never
be included in future catalogues of “social
encyclicals,” the impact of Deus Caritas Est on the
field of Catholic social doctrine will endure.
 Summary
• The category of "social encyclicals”—monographic
papal teaching letters treating themes of social
justice—while useful for classifying magisterial
texts, has the drawback of excluding from the
corpus of Catholic social doctrine important papal
teaching found elsewhere. Such is the case of Pope
Benedict's first encyclical Deus Caritas Est, which,
while not technically a social encyclical, presents
an original contribution to the field of Catholic
social thought.
 Summary
• The second half of the encyclical studies the
Church's charitable activity as an opus
proprium, specifying its distinctive
characteristics and revealing its significance
for society. In this important treatise, Benedict
distinguishes the social mission of the Church
from that of the State.
• The State exists to promote the common good
(justice) and employs practical reason to this end;
the Church devotes herself to charitable works, as
an expression of faith. Despite these distinct
missions, the Church serves the State in its proper
task, both directly, through the engagement of the
lay faithful in social and political activity, and
indirectly, through her social teaching, by which
she helps the State purify its notion of justice and
its requirements for the human person.
CARITAS IN VERITATE
(LOVE IN TRUTH)

- Pope Benedict XVI, 2009

 Main Points:
• Support for major structural reform of the global
economy is stated throughout—the economic
sphere "must be structured and governed in
ethical manners." As in his first encyclical (Deus
Caritas Est), Pope Benedict XVI is our teacher
again; there is substantial misinterpretation of the
word charity among the faithful and his aim is to
teach the correct meaning of the word - hence, the
title. True charity is more than giving away from
one’s excess.
• It is living in relationship and solidarity with the
marginalized. He quotes from Populorum Progressio
often as he challenges "social action [that] ends up
serving private interests and the logic of power,
resulting in social fragmentation." He suggests market
structures that would put integral human
development as a central objective of economic
activity and calls for building relationships of
"gratuitousness, mercy, and communion," not just
rights and duties. Care for the earth is included in the
call to live in relationship.
 Context:
• Economic crisis in the United States that
eventually affects the entire world economy.
 Innovation:
• Reminds the faithful that purchasing is a moral
- not simply economic - act: "in commercial
relationships the principle of gratuitousness
and the logic of gift as an expression of
fraternity can and must find their place within
normal economic activity."
• Pope Benedict XVI delayed the publication of
this encyclical so that the repercussions of the
economic crisis could be included in his
analysis and proposals. This encyclical stifled
any doubt of Benedict's commitment to the
ecclesial mission of social justice.