B16’s first encyclical has been hotly anticipated ever since he was elected as the successor of Peter.
I’ve been coming across rumors on what it’ll be about. One that I saw in print was from the Catholic News Service and said:
The sources told Catholic News Service Oct. 20 that the encyclical was a 46-page spiritual meditation focusing in large part on "eros" (love) and "logos" (the word) and their relationship to the person of Christ [SOURCE].
When I saw this, I looked at it cockeyed since it is exceedingly unlikely that Pope Benedict would write an encyclical on the relationship of eros and logos.
While eros is one of the Greek words for love, it has all the wrong conotations (it’s where we get the word "erotic" and was the name of the god of romantic love), it has not played a significant role in the history of Christian theology, and it never appears in the Bible.
So I didn’t know what to make of that–whether it was bad reporting or bad sourcing.
But now CNS has published a much more plausible report on the forthcoming encyclical:
The only certain big thing on the horizon is the pope’s first encyclical, a 46-page meditation titled "Deus Caritas Est" ("God Is Love"), which takes its inspiration from the first letter of St. John. It will be published in early December [SOURCE].
We should know in the next couple of weeks if the report is true.
Well, the former Cardinal Ratzinger found the word “eros”, characterized as “holy passion”, to be helpful:
“So it is not merely the external beauty of the Redeemer’s appearance that is glorified: rather, the beauty of Truth appears in him, the beauty of God himself who draws us to himself and, at the same time captures us with the wound of Love, the holy passion (“eros”), that enables us to go forth together, with and in the Church his Bride, to meet the Love who calls us.”
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=70258
I just recently finished reading The Ratzinger Report, which is a 1978 interview with the Cardinal.
One passage that stood out was the Cardinal’s remark that, “should Providence free me from my present duties” (as Prefect), he would love to focus on the catechesis of orginal sin.
He noted that the doctrine is little taught and little understood, and yet is key to understanding Christ and the Gospel. No “good news” without the bad news first. It’s neglect was, in his opinion, one of the major pastoral and theological problems in the Church.
I wonder how much now Pope Benedict will focus on the doctrine in this encyclical…
Isn’t JPII’s Theology of the Body all about the redemption of eros in Christ?
JPII on eros:
http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/jp2tb46.htm
http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/jp2tb47.htm
Darn. I was hoping for something on the liturgy. Not a liturgical hammer against abuses, but something along the lines of “Spirit of the Liturgy,” i.e. something we can take as a lense through which to read VC2 documents…
Oh well…guess I’ll have to live with something on love and Jesus…
I think the idea of Original sin is quite simple. Ultimately it is a mystery, so no human is ever going to figure it out. Accepting it as
something we are born with is enough for most Catholics.
I think spending excessive time on this matter, if you are the Pope, is not a prudent use of time.
I think his time and effort would be better used if he worked to define and condemn some of the errors of our time and also promote the importance of confession, and devotion to the Saints, who can be powerful allies to all people.
I would also like to see a return to the practice of Communion on the tongue and kneeling to receive Holy Communion.
I am especially looking to see how he exercises discipline of rebel and wayward clergy, in his capacity as Pope.
I’m really surprised that a “God is love” encyclical actually seems to be a disappointment to some.