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PERSPECTIVES:
Papal Encyclical
January 20, 2006 Episode no. 921
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BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Pope Benedict XVI gave a preview this week of his first encyclical, to be published next Wednesday (January 25). The subject is physical and spiritual love and charity, and we want to talk about that with John Allen of NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER, who joins us from Rome.
John, welcome. Sum up, if you would, what the pope said.
JOHN ALLEN (Vatican Correspondent, NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER): Well, the heart of the message is this: the pope plays with these Greek words for love -- "eros" and "agape" -- eros meaning kind of satisfying one's own desires; agape meaning this deeper, spiritual sense of the sacrifice of oneself for another. And he's trying to argue that the experience of the former ought to lead one into the latter. And he ties that in also to the concept of charity -- the Church's social activity -- and makes the argument that there has to be a difference between what the Church does in the social realm and other secular organizations, and that ultimately it too has to be -- to leading people to this notion of a spiritual giving of the self to the other.
ABERNETHY: And why did Benedict choose this subject, or these subjects, for his first encyclical?
Mr. ALLEN: Well, you know, he's not laying out an agenda for governance here. But I think, Bob, what he understands is that it's precisely in the arena of eros -- that is, sexual love -- that the Church's message these days is often the most controversial and that when the Church, from his point of view, says "no" to something like homosexuality or divorce and birth control, it does so in service to a higher "yes," which is trying to lead people to this deep, spiritual sense of giving oneself over to the other. So, in a sense, it's Benedict's version of compassionate conservatism.
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ABERNETHY: John, also this week the Vatican newspaper had a long article arguing that the theory of intelligent design was not good science and to teach it alongside the theory of evolution was confusing. What are we to make of that? Is that the pope talking?
Mr. ALLEN: Well, no. It's not the pope talking. I mean, look, you know, John Paul II in 1996 said that evolution is more than a hypothesis, which a lot of people took as the Church making its peace with evolution. And ever since then there's been a strong debate over what exactly to make of that. Last summer, senior Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna published an op-ed piece in the [NEW YORK] TIMES in which he said that the Catholic Church cannot support evolution. There was a reaction against that from some in the Church who don't think the Church should be making scientific pronouncements, and this piece in L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO reflects that. But I think the heart of the Church's position -- and I think pretty much everyone would [agree] on this -- is that whatever scientific merit evolution has, it can't, at a philosophical or theological level, be interpreted to mean there's no room in the universe for God. And I think, at the heart of it, that's what the Church is trying to say.
ABERNETHY: John Allen, many thanks.
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Related Links:
Vatican: Encyclical letter "Deus caritas est"
National Catholic Reporter: "First encyclical is on love, 'that beatitude for which our whole being yearns'" by John Allen, January 25, 2006
Zenit News: "Dante influences Benedict XVI's first encyclical," January 23, 2006
The Vatican
Papal Encyclicals Online
The Times: "Pope's first encyclical on love and sex is lost in translation" by Richard Owen, January 19, 2006
Catholic News Service: "Pope says first encyclical explores dimensions of love, charity" by John Thavis, January 18, 2006
Reuters: "Pope hopes encyclical will explain true love" by Philip Pullella, January 18, 2006
The Telegraph: "Love should not be confused with lust, says Pope," by Hilary Clarke, January 18, 2006
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Related Reading:
LOVE IN THE WESTERN WORLD by Denis de Rougemont
THE FOUR LOVES by C.S. Lewis
LOVE AND SAINT AUGUSTINE by Hannah Arendt
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