Deus Caritas Est by Pope Benedict XVI, 108 pages
Deus Caritas Est - "God is Love" - was Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical, released on Christmas Day 2005. It is the first of a trilogy on the theme of the three theological virtues - Spes Salvi ("Saved in Hope") was issued in 2007 and Benedict's successor Francis released Lumen Fidei ("The Light of Faith") in 2013.
Pope Benedict begins with the familiar distinction between eros (desiring love) and agape (selfless love). He attempts to establish that, contrary to popular misconceptions, the two are complementary rather than competing. Eros draws lovers out of themselves and towards the beloved - it is, as Plato demonstrated, both a form of ecstatic divine madness and a longing for fulfillment - but it also easily turns possessive and destructive. As grace perfects nature, so agape purifies eros in the love of the God who is Love.
Key to this purification is the role of the Church. Love, by its very nature, cannot exist in a vacuum - it creates and sustains communities. To thrive, then, it requires order and direction. The Church exists both as the ordinary channel of divine love through the sacraments and a nexus of the neighborly charity which is the only genuine response to an encounter with that divine love. Benedict distinguishes this charity from impersonal philanthropy by stressing that it seeks the good of the entire human person. The struggle for social justice, while vital for a healthy society, can never replace charity precisely because it can never minister to spiritual needs, primary among which is the need to love and be loved.
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