Pope Benedict's first encyclical finished, to be released in December

Published: 2005-10-24

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has finished writing his first encyclical and is expected to release it in early December, Vatican sources said. The sources told Catholic News Service Oct. 20 that the encyclical was a 46-page spiritual meditation focusing in large part on "eros" (love) and "logos" (the word) and their relationship to the person of Christ. The pope worked on the encyclical during his summer stay at the papal residence outside Rome. The text was being translated into various languages, including English, the sources said. In two articles written before his election and published in a recent issue of the magazine Communio, Pope Benedict wrote about the unity of the word and love, as personified in Christ. He highlighted the importance of the personal encounter with Christ, which stirs up love, and said love of God helps define the correct idea of human autonomy. He also wrote that Christ as "logos made flesh" implied reconciliation between supernatural revelation and reason.

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