The Theological Virtue of Charity in the Economy: Reflections on “Caritas in veritate”

Abstract

Possible connections between the virtue of charity and the economy are explored using key sentences from the third chapter of the encyclical Caritas in veritate by Pope Benedict XVI. Without gratuitousness and the unconditional gift operating within normal economic activity, the economy cannot achieve its proper end; while society needs three different sectors to function properly – state, market and civil society – solidarity and reciprocal gift, nevertheless, need to be found in all three. This thinking can be connected with economics on a philosophical level by using the approach of personalism, and on a theological level through practical experience and by using the idea of a theological virtue as a “powerful social resource”.