Commentaries on “Caritas in Veritate” are well underway, as the Catholic world counts down to tomorrow’s release of Pope Benedict’s highly anticipated encyclical on social issues.
Journalist John Allen provides an invaluable “key to reading” the document, pointing out that, in typical Benedict fashion, “Caritas in Veritate” will stress a “both/and” synthesis to perceived dichotomies in Catholic thought.
For example, while some analysts will be quick to emphasize the political and economic implications of the work, Allen points out the pope has gone on record time and again to insist that true social change cannot occur without prior, personal conversion. Both are necessary, and they can’t stand without the other.
