Source: https://zenit.org/articles/vatican-summary-of-caritas-in-veritate/
Timestamp: 2016-07-27 11:32:54
Document Index: 44763506

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 29', '§ 30', '§ 32', '§ 34', '§ 67', '§ 68', '§ 73']

Vatican Summary of “Caritas in Veritate” “Charity Is at the Heart of the Church”
July 7, 2009ZENIT StaffVatican Dicasteries/Diplomacy VATICAN CITY, JULY 7, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is the synthesis the Vatican press office compiled of Benedict XVI’s third encyclical titled “Caritas in Veritate” (Charity in Truth), which was published today. The synthesis highlights the main themes of the encyclical.
* * * “Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness” is “the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity”: thus begins “Caritas in Veritate,” the Encyclical addressed to the Catholic world and “to all people of good will”.
There is another aspect connected to development: the right to religious freedom. Violence “puts the brakes on authentic development”, and this “applies especially to terrorism motivated by fundamentalism”. At the same time, promotion of atheism in many countries “obstructs the requirements for the development of peoples, depriving them of spiritual and human resources” (§ 29). For development needs the interaction of the various levels of knowledge, put in harmony through charity (§ 30-31). One must hope that the economic choices continue “to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment” for everyone. Benedict XVI warns us against “short-term — sometimes very short-term — economy, which leads to “lowering the level of protection accorded to the rights of workers” in order to “increase the country’s international competitiveness”. For this, he exhorts us to correct some dysfunctions of the development models as is required today by the “earth’s state of ecological health”. He concludes with globalization: “Without the guidance of charity in truth, this global force could cause unprecedented damage and create new divisions”. Therefore, we have to deal with “a new and creative challenge” (§ 32-33).
Fraternity, economic Development and civil society is the theme of the 3rd chapter of the Encyclical, opening with a praise of the experience of giving, often unrecognised “because of a purely consumerist and utilitarian view of life”. The conviction that economics are free from the “influences of a moral character” “has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way”. Development, “if it is to be authentically human”, must “make room for the principle of gratuitousness” (§ 34). This is particularly relevant regarding the market.
The last paragraph of the chapter deals with the “strongly felt need” for a “reform of the UN” and of the “economic institutions and international finance”. There is an “urgent need of a true world political authority”, which seeks to “observe consistently the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity”. An authority vested with “effective power”. The Pope concludes with a call to establish “a greater degree of international ordering” for the management of globalization (§ 67).
The 6th and final chapter is centred on the development of peoples and technology. The Pope cautions us against the “Promethean presumption” which would have us believe that “humanity can recreate itself through the wonders of technology”. Technology cannot have an “absolute freedom”. “The process of globalization could replace ideologies with technology” (§ 68-72). Connected with technological development are the “means of social communications”, called to promote “the dignity of persons and peoples” (§ 73).