Church in the World

First encyclical will speak of erotic love, says Pope

POPE BENEDICT said this week that his long-awaited first encyclical would be published on 25 January. In a surprise announcement during Wednesday?s weekly general audience, the Pope said ?Deus Caritas Est? (?God is Love?) would be published to coincide with the commemoration of the conversion of St Paul and the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Pope Benedict told pilgrims gathered in the Paul VI Hall that he hoped the encyclical, which is being seen as a keystone of his papacy, would show Christians the proper relationship between erotic love and spiritual love.

In the 50-page encyclical, Benedict XVI discusses the relationship between ?eros?, or erotic love, and ?agape?, the unconditional, spiritual and selfless love as taught by Jesus.

Speaking without prepared remarks on Wednesday, the Pope suggested that his first encyclical will warn that in contemporary society erotic love is losing the connection to the self-sacrificing spiritual love proposed by Christianity, resulting in sexual degradation.

?There is eros; this gift of love between man and woman which comes from the same font of the Creator?s goodness,? he said. This erotic love can be blended with and transformed into spiritual love, he added, ?where two people really love each other and one no longer seeks his or her own joy or delights but seeks above all the good of the other person?.

Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, was quoted by American media recently as saying that the encyclical would demonstrate that human love and physical desires were not morally wrong under proper circumstances.

The Pope quotes not only from Biblical writings, his predecessors and church teachings, but also from philosophers including Ren? Descartes, Vatican sources said this week. The Pope is believed to have written the entire first part of the encyclical himself at the papal residence of Castel Gandolfo last summer. The second part, which deals with the need for Christians to perform charitable works, was already being prepared by theologians during the final years of John Paul II?s pontificate.

According to the Italian news agency Ansa, the encyclical begins with the words of St John?s letter ?God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.? Pope Benedict told Wednesday?s audience that the publication of the encyclical had been delayed because of problems with its translation. An early draft was reportedly circulated to Vatican departments and a small number of theologians last autumn, resulting in a significant number of suggested changes, including a revision of the conclusion.

While he does not expect to write as much as John Paul II, who produced 14 encyclicals, Pope Benedict has said he wants to spread John Paul?s teachings to ensure they are properly understood.
Michael Hirst