Caritas in Veritate Summary: Human Development (Part 3 of 5)

Capstone and New Direction

by CAPP-USA

DEVELOPMENT MUST BE INTEGRAL

Pope Benedict XVI identifies that the Church “above all…works…to protect mankind from self-destruction.” (Pope Benedict XVI)

And in this regard, he said “The decisive issue is the overall moral tenor of society.” (CIV, 51)

“[M]an needs to be liberated from material oppressions, but more profoundly he must be saved from the evils that afflict the spirit.” (Homily, Mass in Bruno)

Pope Benedict insists, therefore, that human development (the application and implementation of Catholic social teaching – Catholic social action) must be integral – involving all aspects of our humanity, not just economic and political:

“Authentic human development concerns the whole of the person in every single dimension.” (CIV, 11) 

“Progress of a merely economic and technological kind is insufficient. Development needs above all to be true and integral.” (CIV, 23)

“The question of development is closely bound up with our understanding of the human soul“. (CIV, 76)

CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING’S “BOTTOM LINE”

Referring to “the dramatic crisis of the global economy”, Pope Benedict said: “In my encyclical Caritas in Veritate, I invited everyone to look to the deeper causes of this situation: In the last analysis, they are to be found in a current self-centered and materialistic way of thinking that fails to acknowledge the limitations inherent in every creature”. (Pope Benedict XVI)

Henceforth while continuing to address the political and economic structures of society Catholic social teaching will also require us to focus on true, integral human development – not leaving out the spiritual and cultural elements which greatly impact on us.

Even “Our duties towards the environment are linked to our duties towards the human person” because “the book of nature is one and indivisible: it takes in not only the environment but also life, sexuality, marriage, the family, social relations: in a word, integral human development.” (CIV, 51)

“Development must include not just material growth but also spiritual growth“. (CIV, 76)

We must recognize the need for and importance of integral development if true, human development is to be possible.