Pope Benedict XVI said yesterday in his first encyclical that
the Roman Catholic Church has no desire to govern states or set
public policy, but can't remain silent when its charity is needed
to ease suffering around the world.
In the long-awaited document "God is Love," Benedict explores
the relationship between God's love for mankind and the church's
works of charity, saying the two are intrinsically linked and the
foundation of the Christian faith.
The 71-page encyclical, eagerly watched for clues about
Benedict's major concerns, characterizes his early pontificate as
one in which he seeks to return to the basics of Christianity with
a relatively uncontroversial meditation on love and the need for
greater works of charity in an unjust world.
Even Vatican officials have expressed some surprise at the
topic, considering Benedict was the Vatican's chief doctrinal
watchdog and could easily have delved into a more problematic issue
such as bioethics in his first authoritative text.
In the encyclical, Benedict said the church's work caring for
widows, the sick and orphans was as much a part of its mission as
celebrating the sacraments and spreading the Gospels. However, he
stressed that the church's charity workers must never use their
work to proselytize or push a particular political ideology.
"Love is free; it is not practiced as a way of achieving other
ends," he wrote.
"Those who practice charity in the church's name will never seek
to impose the church's faith upon others. They realize that a pure
and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe
and by whom we are driven to love."
He rejected the criticism of charity found in Marxist thought,
which holds that charity is merely an excuse by the rich to keep
the poor in their place when the rich should be working for a more
just society.
While the Marxist model, in which the state tries to provide for
every social need, did respond to the plight of the poor faster
than even the church did during the Industrial Revolution, it was a
failed experiment because it couldn't respond to every human need,
he wrote.
Even in the most just societies, charity will always be
necessary, he said.
"There will always be suffering which cries out for consolation
and help. There will always be loneliness. There will always be
situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love
of neighbor is indispensable," he said.
Benedict stressed that the state alone is responsible for
creating that just society, not the church. "As a political task,
this cannot be the church's immediate responsibility," he said.
However, he said the church wants to be involved in political
life by helping "form consciences in political life and stimulate
greater insight into the authentic requirements of justice as well
as greater readiness to act accordingly, even when this might
involve conflict with situations of personal interest."
He said the church was "duty-bound" to offer such a
contribution, and that the lay faithful, who as citizens of the
state, are duty-bound to carry it out through works of charity.
While stressing that the church has no direct political role, he
did offer a prescription for what the state should do.
"We do not need a state which regulates and controls everything,
but a state which, in accordance with the principle of
subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives
arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity
with closeness to those in need," he wrote.
(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies, January 26, 2006)
