Editing Pope Benedict XVI (section)

==== Encyclicals ====
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!No. !! !! Title !! !! Translation !! !! Subject !! !! Date
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|1. || || ''[[Deus caritas est]]'' || || God is Love || || Christian love || || 25 December 2005
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Benedict wrote three [[encyclical]]s: ''[[Deus caritas est]]'' (Latin for "God is Love"), ''[[Spe salvi]]'' ("Saved by Hope"), and ''[[Caritas in veritate]]'' ("Love in Truth").

In his first encyclical, ''Deus caritas est'', he said that a human being, created in the image of God who is love, can practise love: to give himself to God and others ([[agape]]) by receiving and experiencing God's love in contemplation. This life of love, according to him, is the life of the saints such as [[Teresa of Calcutta]] and the [[Veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church|Blessed Virgin Mary]], and is the direction Christians take when they believe that God loves them in Jesus Christ.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html |title=Deus caritas est |publisher=Vatican.va |date=25 December 2005 |access-date=2 February 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008152102/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html |archive-date=8 October 2011}}</ref> The encyclical contains almost 16,000 words in 42 paragraphs. The first half is said to have been written by Benedict in German, his first language, in the summer of 2005; the second half is derived from uncompleted writings left by his predecessor, Pope John Paul{{nbsp}}II.<ref>Fisher, Ian [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/26/international/europe/26pope.html?pagewanted=all "Benedict's First Encyclical Shuns Strictures of Orthodoxy"] ''The New York Times'', 26 January 2006. Retrieved 5 October 2011 [https://web.archive.org/web/20150705164524/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/26/international/europe/26pope.html?pagewanted=all WebCitation archive]</ref> The document was signed by Benedict on Christmas Day, 25 December 2005.<ref>Thavis, John
[http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20060104001515/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0507411.htm "The pope needs a theologian? Former papal adviser reveals why"] Catholic News Service 30 December 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2011 [https://web.archive.org/web/20110927012222/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0507411.htm WebCitation archive]</ref> The encyclical was promulgated a month later in Latin and was translated into English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish. It is the first encyclical to be published since the Vatican decided to assert [[copyright]] in the official writings of the pope.<ref>McMahon, Barbara [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jan/23/catholicism.religion "Vatican invokes papal copyright"] ''[[The Guardian]]'' 22 January 2006. Retrieved 5 October 2011 [https://web.archive.org/web/20110923141758/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/jan/23/catholicism.religion WebCitation archive]</ref>

Benedict's second encyclical titled ''Spe Salvi'' ("Saved by Hope"), about the virtue of [[hope]], was released on 30 November 2007.<ref>{{cite web |author=Thavis, John |url=http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=26059 |title=People need God to have hope, pope in new encyclical |publisher=Catholic News Service |date=30 November 2007 |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011153026/http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=26059 |archive-date=11 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi.html|title=Spe salvi (November 30, 2007) &#124; Benedict XVI|website=vatican.va}}</ref>

His third encyclical titled ''Caritas in veritate'' ("Love in Truth" or "Charity in Truth"), was signed on 29 June 2009 (the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul) and released on 7 July 2009.<ref name="DonadoNYT">{{cite news|first=Rachel |last=Donadio |title=Pope Urges Forming New World Economic Order to Work for the 'Common Good' |work=The New York Times |date=7 July 2009 |access-date=7 July 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/world/europe/08pope.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223064347/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/world/europe/08pope.html |archive-date=23 December 2011}}</ref> In it, the Pope continued the Church's teachings on social justice. He condemned the prevalent economic system "where the pernicious effects of sin are evident", and called on people to rediscover ethics in business and economic relations.<ref name="DonadoNYT" />

At the time of his resignation, Benedict had completed a draft of a fourth encyclical entitled ''[[Lumen fidei]]'' ("The Light of Faith"),<ref>{{cite news | url = http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/enciclica-papa-el-papa-pope-lumen-fidei-26222/ | title = The light of faith: origin, history and horizon of the christianism | newspaper = [[La Stampa]] | location = Turin | first = Alessandro | last = Speciale | date = 4 July 2013 | access-date = 19 October 2013 | archive-date = 8 July 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130708110458/http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/enciclica-papa-el-papa-pope-lumen-fidei-26222 }}</ref> intended to accompany his first two encyclicals to complete a trilogy on the three [[theological virtues]] of [[faith in Christianity|faith]], [[hope (virtue)|hope]], and [[charity (virtue)|love]]. Benedict's successor, [[Pope Francis|Francis]], completed and published ''Lumen Fidei'' in June 2013, four months after Benedict's retirement and Francis's succession. Although the encyclical is officially the work of Francis, paragraph 7 of the encyclical explicitly expresses Francis's debt to Benedict: "These considerations on faith – in continuity with all that the Church's [[magisterium]] has pronounced on this theological virtue – are meant to supplement what Benedict{{nbsp}}XVI had written in his encyclical letters on charity and hope. He himself had almost completed a first draft of an encyclical on faith. For this I am deeply grateful to him, and as his brother in Christ I have taken up his fine work and added a few contributions of my own."<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20130629_enciclica-lumen-fidei_en.html ''Lumen Fidei''], 7</ref>