An interesting read
Jan. 26th, 2006 01:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
damontOkay, so I'm discussing a letter rather than a book. The icon seemed appropriate anyway.
This morning my attention was drawn to Pope Benedict XVI's very first papal encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est" (roughly "God Is Love"), issued on Christmas Day. Here's a link to the English version.
The first encyclical is often said to be a strong indicator of the direction a papacy will take. If so, I am mildly heartened after having read through it. This is far more liberal than I ever expected to hear from the former Cardinal Ratzinger. I don't think it's quite as liberal as might be thought by the person who pointed it out to me; it's really more of a moderate position, and I strongly suspect it's partly in reaction to the past year's expressions of hatred in the name of religion. Nevertheless, given his previous public stances, this encyclical is remarkable in its tone and language.
The choice of topic also allowed the Pope to gloss over some of the major issues that the R.C. Church will face in the not too distant future. That was likely done on purpose; I stand by my belief that Benedict is mostly a "holding pattern" pope, not expected to live more than 5-10 years, and the *real* politicking is going to be associated with the *next* papal election. (Said politicking has already begun, according to some of my sources.)
This morning my attention was drawn to Pope Benedict XVI's very first papal encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est" (roughly "God Is Love"), issued on Christmas Day. Here's a link to the English version.
The first encyclical is often said to be a strong indicator of the direction a papacy will take. If so, I am mildly heartened after having read through it. This is far more liberal than I ever expected to hear from the former Cardinal Ratzinger. I don't think it's quite as liberal as might be thought by the person who pointed it out to me; it's really more of a moderate position, and I strongly suspect it's partly in reaction to the past year's expressions of hatred in the name of religion. Nevertheless, given his previous public stances, this encyclical is remarkable in its tone and language.
The choice of topic also allowed the Pope to gloss over some of the major issues that the R.C. Church will face in the not too distant future. That was likely done on purpose; I stand by my belief that Benedict is mostly a "holding pattern" pope, not expected to live more than 5-10 years, and the *real* politicking is going to be associated with the *next* papal election. (Said politicking has already begun, according to some of my sources.)
