No sentimentality in Christian social teaching excerpts of the contribution of the Dean of the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy and auxiliary bishop of Milan, Mgr. Franco Giulio Brambilla. long-awaited announcement is imminent on several occasions, the social encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI has arrived, However, as a surprise. Not only because of its favorable pub near the top internationally renowned Aquila, which has regained the prominence of emerging countries, not yet for the resumption of Populorum Progressio of Paul VI, shortly after the fortieth anniversary of its publication (1967) , but especially for the revival of the theme for the integral development of peoples in the context of globalization on the international scene of the terrible crisis of 2008-2009. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and ideologies precisely at the stroke of two hundred years - poetic justice! - The French Revolution (1989), the implosion of the western economy has been globalized, losing the close contact with the root social and human. The encyclical is a strong lure that is almost a manifesto for the new need for "social ethics" that attempts to regulate greed and sometimes fraudulent greed of international finance, without reference to the social bond, and the risk dell'imprendere fatigue of human labor. In the background is the scene of the terrible disparity between the peoples of the globe. The manifest, however, the encyclical does not have the rhetorical tone, but that of a relaxed and peaceful design, to establish a strong reflection patiently weaving the weft of a tapestry of global dimensions, through it all the harmonics that must resonate in ' now present. Or otherwise could be expected from the "pope theologian" who has accustomed us to the thickness and flavor of the word that reveals the true and good. The most surprising thing, which is more closer to a meeting with the writing of the encyclical, is the exercise of interpretation of the Social Doctrine of the Church that the Pope is proposing. This is a case of interpretation "magisterial" the social teaching that, from Rerum Novarum to the present day, has taken on the part of a real body of doctrine. Analysis of socio-political moral theologians, this body appears as a constellation of doctrine that has not and does not claim to have the form of a systematic and complete discussion, but rather intends to offer the discerning demands of the time at which various papal intervention refer. However, because of the overlaps of the anniversaries that often motivate the "recovery" of social doctrine, suggests the idea of \u200b\u200ba speech full of the vision of the Christian faith in the social king. Until it on a discussion of "the Social Doctrine of the Church", which would take the theological content of the Treaty of social morality. Academic space, many times it happens that this part of Christian morality is conceived and proposed as a "commentary" to the social teaching of the highest placed in the historical development of over a hundred years from the "first" social encyclical of Leo XIII. And this is where the line falls surprising intervention of Pope Benedict: it looks like an exercise in symbolic of that '"hermeneutics of reform", of renewal in the continuity of the one subject-Church which the Pope had brought in an unexpected and unusual in the setting of the Sermon on the Roman Curia on the occasion of Christmas greetings, December 22 2005, just at the beginning of his pontificate. That intervention struck many because, as we celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council, claimed the renewal of the Church in continuity before and after the council, compared with a superficial "and discontinutà hermeneutic of rupture" which was based on the separation of spirit of the council and its translation text, inevitably marked by the compromise between the different cores of the Council Fathers. For more propitious - it is no coincidence that the main reference is to Paul VI encyclical - the will of the Pope from Brescia to gather around the conciliar pronouncements maximum consensus. The encilica makes explicit reference (at number 12 and footnote 19) this method of speech: "There are two types of social doctrine, one pre-and post-Vatican II, different, but a single teaching, consistent and at the same time ever again "And if it is" right out the peculiarities of one or the encyclical, the teaching of one or the Pope, but never losing sight of the consistency of the whole body of doctrine ", d ' On the other hand "coherence not mean a closed system, but rather a dynamic fidelity to the received light "(CV 12). In the 2005 Speech from the examples of" fidelity dynamic "look with great concern the most controversial of the conciliar teaching about the freedom religion (see, in this intervention, the beautiful page that from Galileo case you land the formulation reconcile). encyclical exercise relaxes peacefully reconcile hermeneutics to rectify the gap between before and after the council with regard to the social doctrine: "The Populorum Progressio and the Second Vatican Council did not represent a break between the social teaching of Paul VI and that of the Popes, given that the council is a deepening of this teaching in the continuity of life of the Church "(n. 12). The idea of" dynamic fidelity "and" renewal in continuity of the one subject-Church "takes the concept of the Church and is located in the traditio tradens traditum its necessary, but not limited to discerning the needs of history. It requires, therefore, a hermeneutic that does not contribute to breakage, but always find creative continuity (of guardiniana memory) of the life and life of the Church in order to "renew the origins." The act of interpretation is primarily a practical measure by which the Church not only thinks its doctrinal principles connect to the Word of God, but at the same time discerns the current within the bounds of living tradition. As part of the keynote speech, the Pope insisted that "it is precisely this combination of continuity and discontinuity at different levels that is the nature of true reform." Continuity in the principles and strategic decisions necessary flexibility at the level of practical insights related to the "decisions (about) things quotas." So the Pope then suggested that "we must learn to recognize that, in these decisions, only the principles that express the permanent aspect, in the background and reasons for its decision from the inside. They are not so permanent are the practical forms that depend on the situation historical and are therefore subject to change. So the fundamental decisions may remain valid, while the forms of their application to new contexts can change "(ibid.). The 'hermeneutics of reform" thus refers to a "historic practice of discernment" (the life of the Church in its creative continuity), of which the Church's social doctrine is, so to speak, the condensation of the papal Magisterium of the entry that reads and returns to the face of social change. Prior to carrying out the theme of the encyclical (the integral development of peoples ), the Pope feels the need to place it in the context of its overall teaching, particularly in the focal point of his first encyclical Deus programmatic Caritas Est. The bold introduction plays a dual role: connecting with the center of the social doctrine of the Trinitarian mystery, showing how they shine in D caritas theological social interpretation is stronger caritas as the founding principle of social doctrine, which subtracts a understanding small and irrelevant. As if the charity was only a corrective alongside and parallel to the principle of justice, which alone is based on social relations: "Love is everything because, as taught by St. John (cf. 1 John, 4, 8. 16) and as I mentioned in my first Encyclical Letter, "God is love": the love of God everything comes, it all takes shape, it all tents. Love is the greatest gift that God has given to men is his promise and our hope "(CV, 2). To avoid an interpretation" marginal "and" sentimental "of charity than the social relations in the event set by (only) Justice (including the light of "only" reason, even "secular"), Benedict XVI feels the need to strengthen the concept referring to the truth of man's vision, not only on which it is to be measured, but which expresses exactly the full form of human life, personal and social. Hence the strategic importance of the introduction of the encyclical, which forms, so to speak, the theoretical framework of the subsequent recovery the concept of integral development. Caritas in Veritate indicates the axis with which the charity is coextensive with a joint understanding of social relations: they are not just only if they give to each his own, but if you are rooted and, together, nurture those social and cultural ties with which the 'man comes to himself (self-consciousness), before deciding his fate (the personal touch) social within the alliance (the common good). Just this input, which to some may appear even daring, as if you were in a cabin in front of the high wall that stands on the highest peak, is the antidote to drug therapy and an understanding of caritas. In fact, it would cure in the relationship city \u200b\u200bof man and in the concert of nations, once the Justice had failed in its task, offsetting the relationship "right" when they were wounded and torn, with reports "good" that comes free from the initiative of private individuals and / or group. Thus, the theological charity (the communion and fellowship with God) would not have a public aspect: the "brotherhood" that also emblematic of the Enlightenment had indicated in his trio, none as heir to the Western tradition, did not I find any public if not because it gathers the victims and the wounded left on the field by social arena. The value "political" charity is solved in its therapeutic function, but not chair it and does not supply the social relationship. The Pope feels "the need to combine charity with truth not only in the direction marked by St. Paul, the" veritas in charity "(Ephesians 4: 15), but also in that, reverse and complementary, the caritas in veritate. The truth must be sought, found and expressed in the 'economy' of charity, but charity in turn must be understood, supported and practiced in the light of truth. In this way not only do we service the charity, enlightened by truth, but we also help to confirm the truth, demonstrating the power of authentication and persuasion in the concrete of social life "(n. 2). Caritas in veritate is, therefore, the challenge to steal the Church's social doctrine to an understanding "sentimental" appearance of solidarity that must animate the relationship between individuals and between peoples. In figurative expression, the Pope clearly shows this tendency: "A Christian charity without truth would be easily mistaken for a reserve of good feelings, useful for social cohesion, but marginal" (No. 4). "Marginal" with respect to the rules of civil life, which does not leave you in no way directed by the forms of good relationship with each other, as if the forms were only good for the free report or therapeutic or compensatory ways of binding the report proper, Once bankrupt or wound. It must So, get to discuss the scheme that separates and combines justice and charity. Pope says, in fact, that: "The truth preserves and expresses the force of liberation of charity in the ever-changing events of history. And in time the truth of faith and reason, and also in the distinction in the two cognitive domains "(No. 5). The truth is what holds together the excess of charity than the need for justice: charity goes beyond justice only if the includes and surpasses, justice, however, can be itself only if you supply the good form of social relationship that derives the excess of giving and forgiving. It requires an alliance between humans who tend to the "common good" (and not only to safeguard the fragmentation of "commons") as the atmosphere that makes you breathe the right relationships, governed by the law. In the numbers 6 and 7, justice and common good are referred to as mediation Caritas worker in veritate. They can not fail to refer to the image of the integral development of man. Within this framework unfolds the theme of the encyclical. (© L'Osservatore Romano - October 1, 2009)
