Fully human

Although Pope Benedict XVI officially signed his long-awaited encyclical letter Caritas In Veritate (Love In Truth) on June 29, it was published and presented to the international press last Tuesday, coinciding with the eve of the G8 summit in L'Aquila, the Italian city devastated by an earthquake last April.

The encyclical treats the common good, globalisation, economic development, world hunger, the respect for human life, demographic changes, the relationship between business and ethics, ecology, fiscal subsidiarity, access to education, migration, poverty and unemployment, the financial situation, technological progress, biotechnology, the media and world peace.

It is addressed not only to those who profess Catholicism but to all men and women of goodwill. The fulcrum of the document is the authentic development of every person in the light of the truth. In fact, the common thread of the encyclical is the liberating power of authentic charity in truth. Pope Benedict dwells upon the meaning of the common good. He explains that "to desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity".

Following Paul VI's example in the 1967 encyclical Populorum Progressio, Benedict XVI reads the signs of our times and offers proposals. Authentic development is to be integral, promoting the good of every individual and of the whole individual. Among the most often used phrases in the encyclical one can identify "fully human" and "authentic". I hold these concepts fundamental to the holistic development of the individual in society - a development meant to be altruistic, is oriented to the wholeness of the person and respects the rights and duties of others.

A particularly valid description of the currently over-used term "globalisation" goes to the very core of the phenomenon: it "makes us neighbours but does not make us brothers". He treats the phenomenon very objectively, noting its pluses as well as its minuses, among which he mentions new divisions in humanity because the guidance of charity in truth is absent.

Benedict talks about the financial markets, the decline in the birth rate in certain countries, ecological sensitivity and alternative forms of energy, international development aid, fiscal subsidiarity, micro-credit and micro-finance and technology and moral responsibility. It would be interesting to listen to what economists and financial journals have to say about the Pope's assertions.

The Pontiff reads the contemporary situation and proposes principles that form part not only of the Judaeo-Christian heritage but are the common denominator at the basis of all civilisations and cultures (the natural moral law). For example, he talks of the principle of gratuitousness as an expression of fraternity; authentic human relationships of friendship, solidarity and reciprocity at the foundation of economic activity; being protagonists of globalisation in the light of reason, guided by charity and truth; the inviolable dignity of the human person; the responsible stewardship over nature; "the inclusion-in-relation of all individuals and peoples within the one community of the human family, built in solidarity on the basis of the fundamental values of justice and peace"; "relationality" as a fundamental dimension of being human.

It is crystal clear from Caritas In Veritate that human dignity is the benchmark for authentic development. The human being, created in the image of God, is a gift to others and is called to be and to act in relationship to them. Authors of all times - at times, even from other creeds - have often reached the same conclusion. Benedict XVI goes a step further when he affirms that "the question of development is closely bound with our understanding of the human soul". The spiritual growth of the individual is a basic dimension to integral human development. In fact, the Pope affirms that "a humanism which excludes God is an inhuman humanism. Only a humanism open to the Absolute can guide us in the promotion and building of forms of social and civic life".

The author is president of the Theological Commission of the Archdiocese of Malta.