I expect that this will be my last post in my little series drawing from Pope Benedict’s final encyclical, Caritatis in Veritate. How can we be surprised by the indifference shown towards situations of human degradation, when such indifference extends…
This is the ninth post in my occasional series of comments from and about Caritatis in Veritate, Pope Benedict’s final encyclical. It is good for people to realize that purchasing is always a moral—and not simply economic—act. (§66) And therefore,…
Benedict XVI has this to say about the relationship of technological and cultural development. In short: there isn’t any correlation. Technologically advanced societies must not confuse their own technological development with a presumed cultural superiority, but must rather rediscover within…
In his final encyclical, Benedict XVI has this to say about religious freedom: Religious freedom does not mean religious indifferentism, nor does it imply that all religions are equal. (§55) Saying such a thing sounds outlandish, maybe, to the modern…
God says it is not good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18). We need other people. We are social beings. We do not build villages and towns and cities merely from selfishness; we do so because we need each…
An overemphasis on rights leads to a disregard for duties. Duties set a limit on rights because they point to the anthropological and ethical framework of which rights are a part, in this way ensuring that they do not become…
Many of us have alternately had a good laugh or got our dander up thanks to Limbaugh’s ludicrous assertion that Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation (n.b.: not encyclical; there is a difference) exposed the Pope as a “Marxist [sic]”. One of…
It is easy for capitalists, free-market types, freedom lovers, and enemies of socialism to get the idea that because the Catholic Church condemns socialism in essentially unconditional terms, the Church must consequently be on the side of the capitalists. Even…
Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty. [Caritatis in Veritate §21] It seems to me that Pope Benedict…
This is the third post in my series drawn from Pope Benedict XVI’s final encyclical, Caritatis in Veritate. As I mentioned before this is my favorite of Benedict’s encyclicals, and if we are willing to learn I believe that he…
Aquinas, Etc. 