'Message of love'

Saying love would be the keynote of his papacy, Pope Benedict issued a treatise yesterday on what Catholics should do in a world where religion was often linked with calls for hatred and violence.

His long-awaited first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), ranged in themes from erotic and spiritual love in a personal relationship, to the role of the Catholic Church's vast network of charity organisations around the world.

Church officials as well as a top dissident theologian hailed it as a good outline for the papacy of Pope Benedict, a conservative who has surprised many observers with more of a softer side than they expected when he was elected last April.

"In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, this message (of love and charity) is both timely and significant," the Pope said, explaining why he chose the theme.

The encyclical, the highest form of papal writing, is addressed to the world's some 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, who are asked to adhere to its principles and practise its guidelines.

Hans Kueng, a Swiss theologian who was disciplined by Pope Benedict's predecessor, said in a statement that Catholics should be happy that Pope Benedict's first major work was "not a manifesto of cultural pessimism or restrictive sexual morality".

Cardinal Renato Martino, a top Vatican official, said the writing was a "clear policy programme" that put love and charity at the cornerstone of how the Church should face various philosophical, social, theological and cultural issues.

The 70-page booklet was divided into two parts - one the Pope called "a more speculative" discussion on personal love and the second a "more concrete" overview of love and charity.

In the first half the Pope said there was nothing wrong with erotic love between a man and a woman but that it risked being reduced to a "commodity" of sex if it was not part of a higher spiritual love within marriage.

"Today, the term 'love' has become one of the most frequently used and misused of words, a word to which we attach quite different meanings," the German-born Pontiff wrote.

Much of the first half is dedicated to the relationship between "eros", or erotic love, and "agape" (pronounced ah-gah-pay), the Greek word referring to unconditional, spiritual and selfless love as described in the Scriptures.

The Pope acknowledges that in the past the "Church, with all her commandments and prohibitions" was seen as having been "opposed to the body".

But he warns that contemporary society's way of exalting the body at all costs is deceptive and dangerous. "Eros, reduced to pure 'sex', has become a commodity, a mere 'thing' to be bought and sold, or rather, man himself becomes a commodity," he said.

Mr Kueng, the dissident theologian said the fact that the Pope was talking about eros, love and charity was "a good signal" for the rest of his papacy. The style of the first half was highly personal and academic. The second part was drier and is believed to have been a reconstitution of a work begun under John Paul II's papacy.

In it, he praised the work of Christian charity organisations, saying "Our times call for a new readiness to assist our neighbours in need."

Addressing a fear by some people in non-Christian countries, he said Catholic charity organisations cannot be used as a tool to win converts from other religions but that Catholics could not betray their identity.