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«DEUS CARITAS EST»
ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF THE
SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI
Presentation of the encyclical « DEUS CARITAS EST ». A TRINITARIAN ENCYCLICAL The “rehabilitation” of the Abbé de Nantes has arrived through an unexpected channel: nothing less than an encyclical! Of course, Benedict XVI did not do it intentionally! It is all the more marvellous to see, by sheer force of Catholic truth, two great minds thinking alike. Literal commentary on the encyclical Introduction and Part I: THE UNITY OF LOVE IN CREATION AND IN SALVATION HISTORY An adage from the Carmelites opens the corpus of the writings of the Abbé de Nantes: « In the evening of life, only one thing is left: love. Everything must be done through love. » Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI marks the beginning of his pontificate with the same maxim, by posing straightaway the great question: what does it mean to love God? Part II: THE PRACTICE OF CHARITY BY THE CHURCH AS A “COMMUNITY OF LOVE” In Part 2, the Pope proves to be distinctly more reactionary in comparison with his immediate predecessors, stating once again the specific role of the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, we can observe a lack of knowledge of politics as the science and the art of the common good, anterior to any individual good and distinct from the sum of particular goods.
References: « Deus Caritas est », A Trinitarian Encyclical, He is Risen! Vol. 6, n° 43, March 2006, p. 1-36 |
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