Pope Benedict XVI issued last Wednesday the first encyclical of his papacy, a meditation on love and charity titled God is Love, or Deus Caritas Est. Encyclicals, or “letters” from the pope, are addressed to the bishops but directed at all Catholics and considered to be the highest form of papal teaching. The teachings elucidated in the 16,000-word document-71 pages in the English translation-are familiar to Catholics, yet surprising coming from the man nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler,” according to Ronald Modras, Ph.D., professor of theology at Saint Louis University. As Pope John Paul II’s defender of the faith, Joseph Ratzinger’s outspoken orthodoxy sharply divided conservative and liberal Catholics. But in his first papal document, there was no mention of polarizing issues like abortion, contraception and divorce in the encyclical. The subject of homosexuality was also absent, despite the Vatican’s recent crusade to eliminate gay priests from Catholic seminaries. The document unites Catholics and, according to Benedict’s introduction, “call[s] forth in the world renewed energy and commitment in the human response to God’s love.” “[Benedict] is a teacher, not a thunderer, here,” Modras said. Modras said that a pope’s first encyclical typically sets the tone for the Holy Father’s entire pontificate. Thus, Modras said, “we can expect the nature of true love” to be at the forefront of Benedict’s work. The document did not criticize modern society, but instead denounced negative attitudes toward sexuality and called on the Church to embrace service and charity, duties just as essential as preaching and worship. He also addressed the fact that sexuality has been distorted in modern society, invoking Nietzche’s argument that Christianity has “poisoned” eros. Benedict admitted some fault on the part of the Church, but said he that it was an overarching problem. “Christianity of the past is often criticized as having been opposed to the body; and it is quite true that tendencies of this sort have always existed,” Benedict wrote. “Yet the contemporary way of exalting the body is also deceptive. Eros, reduced to pure ‘sex,’ has become a commodity, a mere ‘thing’ to be bought or sold.” In the first part of the encyclical, Benedict unifies eros, erotic love between persons, with agape, a self-sacrifical love between God and humans. He explained that eros and agape are two dimensions of the same love, which leads into the second part of the encyclical, where he speaks of the Church as a “community of love.” Benedict wrote that eros, between a married couple, should evolve into a self-sacrificial love that extends into all aspects of a person’s life, compelling people to reach out to their neighbors through works of charity. “The more the two [eros and agape], in their different aspects, find a proper unity in the one reality of love, the more the true nature of love in general is realized,” Benedict wrote. “Anyone who wishes to give love must receive love as a gift.” In the second part of the encyclical, Benedict argues Karl Marx’s assertion that charity is nonessential in comparison to justice. “Charity is needed to attend to physical and spiritual needs. Justice cannot do it all,” Modras said of the encyclical’s call to service. “There is no ordering of the State so just that it can eliminate the need for a service of love,” Benedict wrote. “Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such.” And while Benedict makes reference to his predecessor throughout the encyclical, indicating that his work is a continuation of John Paul’s, Modras said that the document is very much Benedict’s own work. “He wrote most of this himself-you can tell, this is his,” Modras said, pointing to Benedict’s references to Plato, Nietzsche and Julian the Apostate. Like John Paul, Benedict was a professor, scholar, theologian and writer. “He knows his history,” Modras said.