Pope's social encyclical coming in June?

April 24, 2009

Caritas in Veritate, the long-awaited social encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI, will be released in June, according to Italian media reports. Cardinal Renato Martino, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, has told reporters that the document will be released for the feast of St. Peter and Paul, June 29. The document is expected to provide a critique of the global economic system and a call for solidarity with the poor.

The papal encyclical has been expected for many months. It was once thought that its publication could be timed to coincide with observances for the 40th anniversary of Populorum Progressio, the landmark social encyclical by Pope Paul VI that was released in March 1967. But the expected publication date for the new document by Pope Benedict has been repeatedly pushed back.

Early this year Vatican officials suggested that the encyclical could appear in April. But in a February meeting with priests of the Rome diocese the Pope explained that the worldwide economic crisis had prompted a new review of the text, because "moralizing will not help if it is not supported by an understanding of reality, which also will help us understand what can be done concretely to change the situation.”

 

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Further information:

• Reports: Papal encyclical on poor due end of June (AP)
• Pope: Encyclical delayed because of economic crisis (CWN, Feb 27)