“An Encyclical imbued with great spiritual inspiration, which, faced with the risk of a soul-less social and charitable activism, calls everyone to cultivate the reasons and spirtual motives of being a Church and being Christians”. With these words, card. Renato Raffaele Martino, president of the Papal Council for Justice and Peace, presented today the first Encyclical written by Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas est, at the press conference in the Vatican which was attended by mgr. William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, and mgr. Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Papal Council "Cor Unum". Speaking of the relation between justice and love, explained in the document, the cardinal repeated that "the social doctrine of the Church has become an essential indication in this new historical scenario”. “Justice is the goal and the measure of every policy, but a just society added Martino, while reading the passage 26-29 of the Encyclical cannot be done by the Church but must be accomplished through politics”. “The task of the Church he specified in the building of a just social order is to reawaken spiritual and moral strength”. A clear reference, also through the mention of some Saints, to the "lay faithful", whose mission "is to rightly set up the social life" and whose presence "is viewed in terms of service”.
