Catholic Social Thought

Focusing on the convention theme of "Social Salvation," this session featured three presentations followed by insightful questions or comments, either in the brief time allotted after each presentation or during the general discussion.Marcus Mescher's paper, "'No One is Saved Alone': Evaluating Pope Francis's Vision of Social Holiness," examined Francis's claims of social salvation in light of some of his most familiar phrases (e.g., "culture of encounter," the church as "field hospital," and "social poets" who are "sowers of change").Although language of "liberation" is seldom employed in the canon of CST, Mescher argued that the work of Gustavo Gutirrez can more explicitly connect social duties, social sanctification, and social salvation.The paper drew on three examples-Francis's attention to shame, indifference, and polarization-to assess his efforts to translate CST from principles to practice.With reference to shame, one attendee noted Pope Francis's shift in addressing people with disabilities from Amoris Laetitia to the synodal documents, more explicitly honoring in the latter the subjectivity and inherent dignity of people with disabilities.A question leading to a brief but lively discussion dealt with the presenter's allusion to Gutirrez's work on friendship, wondering if the church's presentation of solidarity as "social charity" or "social friendship" over-inflates what we can expect of these relationships ("Is friendship stretched too thin?").Returning to the issue of shame, a third participant wondered about "social shame" or how "every social interaction risks shame," and the implications for Pope Francis's call to build a "culture of encounter."Mescher's responses confirmed the legitimacy of turning to Gutirrez to elucidate and evaluate Francis's vision of social holiness.In her presentation, "Social Salvation as Universal Love: From Teilhard, Berry to Francis and Beyond," Simeiqi He argued that from Pope Francis's Laudato Si' and Fratelli Tutti there emerges a vision in which social salvation is akin to universal love.The presentation then traced Francis's universal horizon to Thomas Berry's cosmological ethics and to Teilhard de Chardin's notion of sola caritas (love alone), and He highlighted ways in which their thought may be traced back to Eastern traditions.With a focus on Teilhard's work in China and Berry's study of Chinese religions, He stressed the formative significance of the Chinese tradition for the conception of the universal horizon.Thus, the actualization of Francis's vision requires a deeper appreciation of the Chinese tradition and its insights into the anthropocosmic reality.Session attendees asked whether Daoism had any impact on Berry and Teilhard, whether Teilhard's interpretation of Confucianism was accurate, and whether it is appropriate to regard Confucianism as yang and Daoism as yin.He gave fitting responses to each question, while cautioning against the tendency to essentialize