Pope Benedict's Third Encyclical To Be Released July 7

The Vatican announced yesterday that Caritas in veritate ("Charity in truth"), Pope Benedict XVI's third encyclical, was signed by the Holy Father on June 29, 2009, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and will be released to the public on Tuesday, July 7. The long-awaited document will be Pope Benedict's first social encyclical, addressing the current economic crisis and, more broadly, the proper ordering of the economy and society in the modern world.

The Holy Father himself has said that the encyclical addresses "themes contained Populorum progressio," a social encyclical released by Pope Paul VI in 1967 and widely seen as more liberal and supportive of international institutions than the more famous social encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII (Rerum novarum) and Pope Pius XI (Quadragesimo anno). This may indicate that capitalism, which previous pontiffs have seen as the sister of socialism, may come in for greater criticism than some supporters of Pope Benedict would like to see.

From the standpoint of Leo XIII and Pius XI, capitalism shares with socialism a common lineage, as both are descended from the liberalism of the 18th and 19th centuries. That liberalism tends to place the material above the spiritual, a trend that Pope Benedict himself has criticized throughout his pontificate, even when not speaking in economic terms.

These are important historical points to keep in mind as we prepare for the release of Caritas in veritate. Defenders of both capitalism and of socialist critiques of capitalism will be tempted to "spin" the encyclical to their own ends. But the Church has no vested interest in any particular economic system, and it would be a mistake to read the social encyclicals of the past, or Caritas in veritate, as anything other than an attempt to apply Christian principles to economic and social institutions that have their roots outside of, and often in opposition to, Christianity.

Check back here on July 7, after the text of the encyclical is released, for full coverage of Caritas in veritate.