All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically...

I doubt that many or any of us would argue with the sentiment in this post's title. Yes, the interior impulse to love authentically may be wounded, dulled or abused but that impulse deep within, planted in our nature by God, remains, waiting to be healed, enlightened, restored to its original innocence and authenticity.

The title above is taken from the opening paragraph of an encyclical letter on the economy and social justice published today by Pope Benedict XVI and titled, Charity in Truth. Here's a snip from the encyclical offering wider context for this "interior impulse:"

Some will find the encyclical's language overly theological or philosophical. Of course church documents of their nature are deeply rooted in philosophical and theological soil and unabashedly display that rootedness as confirmation of their convictions. Some may be tempted to dismiss the vocabulary and thus the content of such writing. But the publication of this encyclical on the eve of the G8 meeting in Italy appears to be orchestrated to insure that the Church's voice is heard at that powerful panel's gathering - at the end of which the pope will meet with Barack Obama.

If some of the language is too dense to get through, take a look at John Allen's summary of the encyclical's major themes. Allen notes some of the practical suggestions made in Charity in Truth:

* Resisting a “downsizing” of social security systems;
* Support for labor unions and the rights of workers in a global economy marked by mobility of labor;
* Combating hunger “by investing in rural infrastructures, irrigation systems, transport, organization of markets, and in the development and dissemination of agricultural technology”;
* Enshrining access to steady employment for all as a core economic objective;
* Protecting the earth’s “state of ecological health”;
* Seeing “openness to life,” meaning resistance to measures such as abortion and birth control, as not only morally obligatory but a key to long-term economic development;
* Ensuring that the targets of international aid programs are involved in their design and implementation, and trimming the bureaucracy sometimes associated with those programs;
* Lowering domestic energy consumption in developed nations, investing in renewable forms of energy, and adopting new more sustainable lifestyles;
* Curbing an “excessive zeal for protecting knowledge” among affluent nations, “through an unduly rigid assertion of the right to intellectual property, especially in the field of health care”;
* Opening up global markets to the products of developing nations, especially in agriculture;
* Commitment among developed nations to devote a larger share of their gross domestic product to development aid;
* Greater investment in education;
* More generous immigration policies, recognizing the economic contributions of migrants, both to their host countries and to their countries of origin by sending money home;
* Support for micro-finance, consumer cooperatives, and socially responsible forms of business;
* Reform of the United Nations and international institutions of economics and finance, in order to promote “a true world political authority ... with real teeth,” though one informed by the principle of subsidiarity – meaning respect for the liberty of individuals, families, and civil society;
* Opposition to abuses of biotechnology such as a new eugenics.

(Full text of Charity in Truth)

-ConcordPastor