CatholicVote: Social Teaching and B16

From early on in the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, I was keyed in on how he would articulate Catholic Social Teaching. As Cardinal Ratzinger he had quite a bit to say about Liberation Theology. As many will remember, he was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) when Blessed Pope John Paul II took on Liberation Theology in Latin America. Two documents came out of the CDF during the mid 80’s. The second of these, Libertatis conscientia, was most certainly penned by Ratzinger (in fact paragraph three of that document closely matches the opening of Caritas in veritate.)

Once Pope, the same man did not disappoint. He has been a champion for the social teaching in a way I could not have even fathomed. Indeed, he has stressed doing for the social teaching what he has done for Vatican II, namely making sure we interpret it in light of the tradition.

Let me just point out first what the good German pontiff has written. Half of Pope Benedict’s first encyclical, Deus caritas est, was on the social teaching. Themes of the social teaching are woven in and out his second encyclical, Spe salvi, with references to hope and liberation. And the entirety of his third encyclical, Caritas in veritate, was devoted to the social teaching.

His contribution to the social teaching with Caritas has already produced fruit. From the introduction of a term like “gratuitousness” and the “logic of gift” to inspiring documents like “Vocation of a Business Leader: A Reflection,” from the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace in collaboration with the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, Pope Benedict has made a difference in the development of the social teaching in a very short time.

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