Rome, Italy, Jan 15, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The next encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, according to sources close to the Vatican, will be a comment on the First Letter of Saint John, in which The Pontiff will stress that the genuine Christian love, that is expressed in charitable deeds is not an ideology.
The sources also revealed that the encyclical, which bears the title “Deus Caritas Est,”-God is Love- will be published this week and will start with the passage “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4;16) Theses words, taken from the Letter of Saint John, express with a singular clarity the center of Christian life, the Christian image of God and the subsequent vision of men and his path.”
The text-46 pages- shorter though than the average encyclical of Pope John Paul II- is divided into two parts. The first one is dedicated to “the unity of love, the creation and the history of salvation”, and the second one to the notion of “Caritas,” as the “exercise of love from the Church.”
According to a Vatican source, cited by the Italian daily La Repubblica, in the last chapter Pope Benedict XVI insists on the concept of “Love-Caritas,” and its relation to Catholic Charity organizations, he remarks that the this binomial will always be necessary, as well in more just societies.
The Pope notes too that Charitable work in the Church has to be totally separated from parties and ideologies, because Charity, being more than a way to change the worlds, is the achievement here and now of the love man always needs.”