Deus caritas est, or how I learned to stop worrying and love God's Rottweiler...

Somewhat to my surprise, I've been really impressed by the new Pope's first Encyclical. I always thought that the press was being a bit hard on him, in that most of the criticism of him seemed to be based on very little knowledge (it's also unfortunate that the guy has such deepset eyes; they make him look somewhat shifty), but equally I was - in a somewhat detached manner, since I'm not Roman Catholic - rather saddned that the cardinals had gone for such a conservative, unimaginative choice, a caretaker who would keep the church on the same course as John Paul II did.

But having read the encyclical, I think I may be changing my mind. Of course, I don't doubt there's many points where I'd disagree with Benedict (women's ordination; birth control - the usual socially-liberal suspects, and I have Protestant difficulties with the doctrine of the Immacualate Conception) and the RC position as a whole. But this is a wonderful statement of the heart of Christianity: I had already formed the opinion that Benedict was intellectually brilliant, but I wasn't expecting something so passionate and beautiful.

The full text of the encyclical, in English, is here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html

( Some quotations under the cut )