A Papal Letter Showing Church's Conservative and Liberal Sides Boosts Progressives

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

A prominent Roman Catholic conservative E-mails to object to my post on Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical yesterday providing a boost for Catholic liberals, calling it "somewhat mistaken."

"Overall, Charity in Truth"—the title of the encyclical—"is a very conservative document," this person writes.

Very conservative? The encyclical backs trade unions, environmental preservation, and sweeping new authority for the United Nations. Benedict mentions abortion three times in the course of the document, while giving seven plugs to labor unions. He invokes support for the environment two dozen times.

From an American political perspective, it's hard to call this very conservative.

That doesn't mean the encyclical is very liberal. There's plenty in it for both liberals and conservatives to latch on to. What makes it a big boost for Catholic progressives, though, is that it's the first big, newsmaking statement from the Catholic Church in quite a while to include robust support for their causes.

Notre Dame. Kathleen Sebelius. The Freedom of Choice Act. The Catholic Church's recent forays into politics, in the United States at least, have spoken exclusively to the church's social-conservative side.

This encyclical is different, speaking as much to the church's liberal, social-justice side. It's not a boost to progressives because it speaks exclusively to their causes, though it does emphasize them.

It's a boost because it exhibits the church's conservative and liberal halves, while we've become accustomed to seeing only the former.

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