Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Vatican Radio: Pope's Encyclical Got US Talking

Reports That 1,800 Articles Discussed the Text

VATICAN CITY, JULY 24, 2009 (Zenit.org).- According to Vatican Radio, Benedict XVI's encyclical "Caritas in Veritate" has caused quite the media buzz in the United States.

The Italian edition of Vatican Radio reported today that even after the text's release more than two weeks ago, analysis of the document continues. It noted that more than 1,800 articles have been written on the encyclical, many of them the report called "valuable."

In an article titled "'Caritas in Veritate' Welcomed With Great Interest in the United States" posted on Vatican Radio's Web site, the news outlet reported that the press in the United States dedicated more space and time covering the Pope's encyclical than in any other country, and that it was covered on a national and local level.

"The contribution to the debate on the part of laity, economists, experts in social science, history, theology, professors, is noteworthy," it said.

While acknowledging critiques of the document, such as the one written by George Weigel for the National Review, which held that the pontifical document was a "hybrid" of ideas that interspersed the thought of Benedict XVI with that of the more progressive Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Vatican Radio affirmed that the vast majority of analyses were positive, noting commentaries written by Samuel Gregg of the Acton Institute and Catholic author and theologian Michael Novak.

Novak, writing the day after the encyclical's release in The Catholic Thing, summarized the document into four ideas: communion, gift, caritas, and truth.
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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 11:43 PM