EXCERPT:First, modern Catholic Social Doctrine has depended almost exclusively on papal encyclicals for its expression. Aside from the Vatican II documents themselves and occasional pastoral letters of Bishops’ conferences, the encyclical writings have set the agenda, direction, and boundaries of Catholic Social Doctrine since 1891.
Second, these documents are seldom the work of a single mind. The popes who signed them have employed researchers, ghost writers, editors, advisers, consultants, and a host of primary and secondary sources to develop these documents. They often read like they were composed by committee because, in effect, they were.
Third, once a Pope accepts a final draft and signs it, the document becomes his. He accepts responsibility for, and ownership of, its positions and even its language. It instantly becomes a part of his permanent historical legacy. So Caritas in Veritate is now part of the legacy of Benedict XVI, just like his two previous letters.
Fourth, papal encyclicals rarely make any claim to infallibility. So a Catholic may in good faith agree or disagree with specific positions. What you may not do is claim that they do not represent papal teaching. When you disagree with anything in a papal encyclical, you are disagreeing with the pope. You have a perfect right to do this—provided you do not pretend that you are not doing it!
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