Abstract / DOI
The Quiet Prophet: Benedict XVI. and Catholic Social Teaching. Neither his theological career nor his work as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith placed Joseph Ratzinger in any great proximity to Catholic social teaching. However, the controversies surrounding liberation theology and the provision of abortion counselling did draw his attention to the Church’s social teaching, with the latter serving as a preparatory foundation for the contribution made by Pope Benedict XVI to Catholic social teaching, namely the linking of Catholic social doctrine to an ethics of life - within an integral human ecology. The encyclical Caritas in Veritate is a prophetic document in which Benedict quietly and subtly calls for this connection to be made in his discussion of globalization. It is not globalization but Promethean assumptions in biomedicine and society that pose the threat to humanity that needs to be addressed by Catholic social doctrine and the ethics of life.