The Pope's Call for Charity: An examination of Benedict XVI's encyclical on the economy

The Pope's Call for Charity: An examination of Benedict XVI's encyclical on the economy

America is pleased to offer this commentary on Pope Benedict XVI's "Caritas in Veritate" from two frequent contributors.

Columnist Maryann Cusimano Love compares the parlous state of the U.S. economy to a Nigerian email scam, where truth and trust are in short shupply, and applauds Benedict for recognizing that the global economic meltdown is "a moral failure, an absence of truth, trust, love, justice and the common good." Read "A Call for Truth and Trust."

Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, South Dakota, writes that these serious times call for serious thinking, and the moral obligation issued by the pope requires our fixed attention. Read "Serious Thinking."

Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

This article also appeared in print, under the headline "The Pope's Call for Charity," in the August 3, 2009 issue.

Maryann Cusimano Love

 

Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love is an Associate Professor of International Relations in the Politics Department of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. She is also a Fellow at the Commission on International Religious Freedom. She teaches graduate and undergraduate International Relations courses at Catholic University and the Pentagon, such as Security, Just Peace, Terrorism, Globalization, and The Problem of Sovereignty. Her recent books include Beyond Sovereignty: Issues for a Global Agenda (4th Edition, 2010), Morality Matters: Ethics and the War on Terrorism (forthcoming at Cornell University Press), and "What Kind of Peace Do We Seek?" a chapter on peacebuilding to appear in Notre Dame University's volume on The Ethics and Theology of Peacebuilding. She serves on the U.S. Catholic Bishops' International Justice and Peace Committee, the Advisory Board of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, and the board of Jesuit Refugee Services.

Dr. Love lives on the Chesapeake Bay outside of Washington, DC, with her husband Richard and three young children, Maria, Ricky and Ava, who inspired her New York Times best-selling children's books, You Are My I Love You, You Are My Miracle, You Are My Wish, and Sleep, Baby, Sleep.

Don't miss the best from America

Sign up for our Newsletter to get the Jesuit perspective on news, faith and culture.

The latest from america

Rohingya refugees wait to receive aid Sept. 21 at a camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (CNS photo/Cathal McNaughton, Reuters)
As U.N. General Assembly convenes, a progress report on world’s refugees
This year the Grand Bargain on refugees seems increasingly fragile.
Kevin ClarkeSeptember 22, 2017
Residents mourn on Sept. 20 for the 11 victims killed in a church in Atzala, Mexico, during the Sept. 19 earthquake. A Catholic bishop in Mexico said the situation was extremely serious, and much aid would be needed. (CNS photo/Imelda Medina, Reuters)
Mexico’s earthquakes are a chance for cross-border solidarity. How will we respond?
The earthquake feels like yet another crisis tearing at our transnational families. The earthquake was a natural disaster, but the many ways American society fails to value the lives of foreigners, of immigrants, of its own citizens, because of their skin color or their Latino heritage is a
Antonio De Loera-BrustSeptember 22, 2017
Hispanic Heritage Month raises questions about identity for Latino Catholics
“It is good to rediscover our history and welcome the diversity of the people in the United States.”
J.D. Long-GarcíaSeptember 22, 2017
These photos were taken August 16, 1920, at St. Elizabeth's Hospital for the Insane. Salmon had been on a hunger strike for 34 days. (National Archives and Records Administration via the website BenSalmon.org)
In 1918, this American Catholic accepted a death sentence rather than go to war
The courageous witness of 'unarmed prophet' Ben Salmon—precisely one century ago—anticipated a major development in Catholic doctrine on war and peace,.
Barry HudockSeptember 22, 2017