Father Zuhlsdorf on an Important Paragraph in Caritas in Veritate

Father John Zuhlsdorf at What Does the Prayer Really Say? has joined me on the road less traveled by and held off on posting too much on Pope Benedict's new encyclical, Caritas in veritate, until he has a chance to digest it. He has, however, called our attention to paragraph 56, in which the Holy Father discusses the role that faith plays in purifying reason (a lesson that secularists in the West need to learn) and that reason plays in purifying religion (an understanding sorely missing in much of Islam today).

Coming to the proper understanding of the relationship between faith and reason allows us to navigate between these two poles and "bring the truths of faith to bear upon public life." This, Father Zuhlsdorf argues, shows that "This encyclical is part of Benedict’s plan to rebuild our Catholic identity in the face of secularism, relativism, and a fundamentalist religious view which doesn’t admit of the proper role of reason."

In that sense, we might even say that this social encyclical, while clearly in the tradition of Rerum novarum and Quadragesimo anno, is more encompassing than those early documents. Leo XIII and Pius XI, despite the challenges that the Church faced in their times, still could take for granted that the Church had a "privileged voice in the public square precisely because of her relationship to Christ and who man is, who man’s ultimate goal is."

We cannot say the same today, and so Pope Benedict has to make this explicit. In that sense, Caritas in veritate may very well mark a turning point in the life of the Church in the world.