Although Pope Benedict XVIs encyclical Caritas in Veritate (CV) has largely been viewed as treating globalization, this article shows that CV is much more than a globalization encyclical. First, it focuses on the continuities in the social doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church with regard to the anthropological and theological preconditions of globalization. Second, with regard to the economic, social, and political aspects of these preconditions, this article highlights the new things that find special emphasis in CV. While there are significant continuities with globalization as treated in CV and preceding social teaching, CV is the encyclical that demonstrates that the decisive battle for a human society is not made in the field of economics but in the field of bioethics. It is the encyclical that integrates bioethics into the social doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.
Manfred Spieker, "Continuity and Res Novae in the Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate," Journal of Markets & Morality 14, no. 2 (Fall 2011): 327-343