The Mixed Blessing: <i>Caritas in Veritate</i>, Part V

 

Caritas in Veritate is an excellent document which provides valuable follow-through on several vital parts of traditional Catholic social teaching. From the importance of workingmen’s associations to the importance of spiritual considerations in economic thought, Caritas continues the ever-clearer proclamation that the Church is neither capitalist nor socialist, but Catholic, an entirely different thing.

The document further successfully applies traditional Catholic social principles to new problems, including environmental issues, tourism, and the psychiatric industry. In so doing, Pope Benedict has provided essential guidance to his flock on how to think about and handle these issues, guidance which will prove invaluable in coming years.

On the other hand, the encyclical leaves something to be desired. Pope Benedict’s endorsement of internationalism, apparently failing to acknowledge any of the practical or theoretical difficulties of this position, has rightly given many Catholic some distress. Most importantly, despite repeatedly stating the necessity of Christianity in society, Pope Benedict in the end downplayed that necessity. His Holiness states not only that “[o]ther cultures and religions teach brotherhood and peace and are therefore of enormous importance to integral human development,”1 he even goes so far as to say that development requires other religions.2 His Holiness does, of course, unequivocally state that this “does not mean religious indifferentism, nor does it imply that all religions are equal,”3 but if that is the case it is hard to see why true human development would require any religion but the true one. And nowhere in the entire encyclical does His Holiness mention that primary and indispensable driver of all true social reform: Christ the King, by right the ruler of all men, families, associations, and states. This neglect is the aspect of the document most disturbing to the Catholic distributist. It leaves a hole in the document that is quite clear even after repeated rereading.

All the same, distributists, particularly Catholic distributists, should embrace the encyclical. Since 1993, relying on a clear misreading of Centesimus Annus, capitalists have been claiming that the Church has abandoned her previous, anti-capitalist (as well as anti-socialist) social teachings, embracing the so-called free-market capitalism that characterizes the Western democracies. Now, at last, distributism has vindication, in terms so plain and clear that no one can deny their import: Catholic social teaching is not capitalist, and is indeed contrary to capitalism. Distributism has also been provided with several valuable examples of applying traditional Catholic social principles to new problems; Pope Benedict’s handling of the environmental issue in particular provides an admirable model for Catholic social thinkers.

The jewelry box of resources from which distributist can draw has been permanently and valuably expanded. We all owe our admiration and gratitude to the current occupant of the See of St. Peter for bravely upholding the principles of Catholic social teaching in a world ever-increasingly hostile to them. Let us pray that God continue to strengthen and enlighten Pope Benedict, that he may continue to strengthen and confirm us, his flock.

Praise be to Christ the King!

Footnotes

1. Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, no. 55.
2. Id. (stating that “development needs the religions and cultures of different peoples,” certainly a true statement of the latter but equally certainly not of the former).
3. Id.