As we have mentioned previously, if “Deus Caritas Est” were the only encyclical the Pope intends to write, he would have already given us the solution to all the world’s problems, because those problems are nothing but sins against Charity.
When Pope Benedict went to the Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz, they were expecting him to say some political statements like a condemnation of anti-semitism or Nazism. Instead he uttered an Augustinian thought: the nature of evil, the lack of charity due to man’s tendency to deify himself (” if you eat this fruit of rebellion you will be like gods”). Germany fell because of the promise to be like gods.
Hatred has overwhelmed the world. It is everywhere. Hatred between races, hatred between religions, hatred between nations, between husband and wives, between parents and their children to mention a few. This hatred is diabolical since it is what the devil has towards men, knowing that man can go to heaven while he cannot. And since hatred is a passion gone berserk, no one needs to do anything wrong to earn another person’s hatred. Why should mothers abort their children? What have they done? It is this hatred that seems to come from nowhere that is motivating her. Come from nowhere? It comes from the absence of Charity. Evil is the absence of good. If you have no Charity you have hatred.
When someone can go to the extend of murdering a total stranger, can there be any other reason for this except the absence of Charity or Love? Without this explanation, the behaviour is bizarre.
Theft, like kidnappings, are symptoms of hatred. The thieves wait for you to earn your living and when you have saved a modest amount they deprive you of it. This is a behaviour completely devoid of love of neighbor, and therefore, is hatred.
Adultery, divorce, legal separation, annulment of marriages are acts completely devoid of love of neighbor and love of God. Thus, these are acts of hatred.
The collateral effects of studies on stem cells, cloning and in vitro fertilization are acts of hatred. How else can we describe the manner with which those fertilized eggs are disposed of, except that it is done by people who have too much love of self.
Within the Catholic Church, the absence of Charity is more pronounced because we have a standard to compare with. The Church when she was fervent, the Apostolic Church, the Church of the Fathers, the fervent communities and reformed communities has shown us how the Church should be : ”See how they loved one another.” (Painting is “St. Bernard Crushes the Devil,” by Marcello Venusti, 1563.)