PROVIDENCE — At its title suggests, “Lumen Fidei,” – the first encyclical by Pope Francis, and the first to be co-authored by two popes, released on July 5 – is truly a “light,” said Father Giuseppe Costa, director of the Vatican Publishing House.
Father Costa described the new encyclical as “really beautiful and spiritually exciting.” He added that “Lumen Fidei,” which translates as “The Light of Faith,” contains a style that is “part Benedict’s and part Francis.”
“Pope Francis presents the encyclical as his,” the priest explained. “This was a gesture of spiritual fraternity between his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis himself.
Father Jay Finelli, pastor of Holy Ghost Church, Tiverton, said that the newest encyclical is unlike any document in the history of the church.
“Most popes quote popes and saints and great theologians,” he said. “What makes this document so unique is that it is the work of two popes and both are still with us. Benedict is probably one of the greatest theologians of all times and Francis who is so streetwise. Together, they give us a unique look at faith. ‘Lumen Fidei’ will inspire all who meditate on the richness of the wisdom of two Popes.”
In the document’s introduction, Pope Francis notes that his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI had worked before his resignation to nearly finish a first draft of the encyclical. Pope Francis explains that, “as his brother in Christ I have taken up his fine work and added a few contributions of my own.”
The new encyclical challenges Catholics to take on a new perspective on the connection between truth and faith said Nicholas Fleming, a seminarian for the Diocese of Providence, who has studied in Rome, where he witnessed the departure of Pope Benedict XVI from the Vatican on the final day of his papacy.
“Many argue today that truth is subjective and that faith and truth are distinct and fundamentally disconnected,” Fleming explained. “In this encyclical, Pope Francis correctly reminds us that faith and truth are bound, not by uncertainty and hope, but faith and truth are united in love. Pope Francis truly wants to demonstrate that faith is grounded in the reality of truth.”
Fleming shared that Pope Francis’ encyclical could not have come at a better time.
“In the Year of Faith, this encyclical calls us to truly experience and encounter truth as a means of going beyond oneself, to encountering another,” he said. “This has been the very work of his papacy, to demonstrate how one man encounters another in charity. His papacy has come to reflect the reality that truth embraces all people from every nation, race, class and culture. Together we pursue one common good and together we can achieve it.”
Father David L. Stokes, assistant professor of theology at Providence College, explained that the encyclical is also the culmination of Benedict’s reflection on the three theological virtues: faith, hope and love.
“’Lumen Fidei’ is theological rich and dense, and like Benedict’s early work cannot to be reduced to paraphrase,” he said. “For in theology and structure it evidences Benedict’s grasp of European culture and his deep love of the early church.”
Several of the encyclical’s paragraphs invite Catholics to understand faith as a dialogue, a continuous conversation between God and the individual, and God and his church, he added. Related to this are the pope’s brief comments on the nature of idolatry, which Father Stokes found to be the encyclical’s “most precious gem.”
“Instead of worshiping some idea or thing in place of God, as we have been traditionally catechized, idolatry is here defined as the human presumption that we can read God without mystery, that we can achieve what even Moses did not, that we can see God face-to-face,” he explained.
The encyclical also concludes with faith and its’ relevance in the public square.
“I doubt if we will see an encyclical of this type for some time, where Rousseau, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, and even T. S. Eliot are unselfconsciously juxtaposed with Clement and Irenaeus,” said Father Stokes. “Still, the very fact that Pope Francis has chosen to place ‘Lumen Fidei’ at the beginning of his pontificate over his own name can only be seen as a hermeneutic of continuity at its best.”
The Vatican Publishing House owns all of the pope’s copyrights since the moment of his election, and has already published several collections of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s writings and homilies, as well as the first speeches and homilies that he delivered as pope.
With reports from Catholic News Agency
