Monday, March 16, 2026
In the very first sentences of his very first encyclical, delivered on Christmas Day 2005, Pope Benedict XVI wrote:
“Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with a person.”
Later in the encyclical (20), he wrote:
“Love of neighbour, grounded in the love of God, is first and foremost a responsibility for each individual member of the faithful, but it is also a responsibility for the entire ecclesial community at every level.”
Catholic theologian and writer Fr. Tomas Halik summarized the encyclical:
“Christianity is not simply an ethical system or a system of catechistic sentences. It is - as the pope says - a ‘love story’. Becoming Christian is not accepting some ‘worldview’, but loving God.”
Our Church, our liturgy, our personal belief in God, is important. But our first and foremost responsibility is to love. And fundamentally, being a Christian means to love.
God - how can I love today? How can I be a Christian, not by words, but by love?
Deus Caritas est - Pope Benedict XVI first encyclical