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The Vatican, the United States, and the issues, after the week that was.

By George Weigel

Now that was a week: a new social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (“Charity in Truth”), from Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday; a meeting between the pope and Pres. Barack Obama on Friday; heavy-duty polemics on Wednesday and Thursday, largely reflective of the determination of certain Catholic parties in the United States to turn the encyclical into a pontifical endorsement of Obamanomics, Obamacare, etc., in anticipation of the Vatican summit.

The high, or low, point in the exchange of counter-battery fire in the blogosphere may have come Thursday, when former Maryland lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend issued a broadside arguing that President Obama better understood and reflected Catholic life in the United States than did the 265th Bishop of Rome — which rather took Obamaphile spin to new heights (or depths). But, then, nothing was surprising after several days of high-voltage rhetoric in defense of Caritas in Veritate from people who would rather have had a barbed-wire colonoscopy than see Joseph Ratzinger elected pope back in 2005. There are many ironies in the fire, indeed.

Where do things stand, after the week that was?

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By Catholic News Service

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) — In a very brief general audience, Pope Benedict XVI said the church needs holy priests who can help the faithful understand that truth exists and, ultimately, is found in God.

The audience, with an estimated 4,000 people packed into the courtyard at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo, lasted a mere 15 minutes. The pope’s main talk lasted only five minutes, although the Vatican published the much longer text the pope had prepared for the audience.

Pope Benedict’s remarks focused on St. John Vianney, the patron of parish priests, who died Aug. 4, 1859. The pope invoked a special Year for Priests to mark the 150th anniversary of the French priest’s death.

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VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday called for a radical rethinking of the global economy, criticizing a growing divide between rich and poor and urging the establishment of a “true world political authority” to oversee the economy and work for the “common good.”

He criticized the current economic system, “where the pernicious effects of sin are evident,” and urged financiers in particular to “rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity.”

He also called for “greater social responsibility” on the part of business. “Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty,” Benedict wrote in his new encyclical, which the Vatican released on Tuesday. 

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