Charity Begins at Home … an Ecclesiological Assessment of Pope Benedict's First Encyclical

Abstract

AbstractThis article offers an ecclesiological assessment of Pope Benedict's first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est. It draws parallels with an earlier papal encyclical, also, on charity and suggests that the attention in the latter to the exercise of charity within the Catholic church is a much needed supplement to Benedict's attention to what the church might teach the ‘world’ad extra about charity. Indeed, the article suggests that the Catholic church must strive all the more to be truly a sacrament (both a sign and mediation) of that love that constitutes the very threefold being of God, both ad intra and ad extra. But, first and foremost, the church must learn to exercise such love within its own confines before it can hope to teach those in the wider human family anything about charity. The promise of applied trinitarian ecclesiology in serving such ends is highlighted.