Yesterday, I took a look at Pope Benedict XVI's recent Encyclical on Charity in Truth. It is definitely his Magnum Opus and should lay to rest the question of which Joseph Ratzinger became Pope (the choices being the young firebrand of Vatican II or Pope John Paul II's Rotweiler).

I highly recommend it, as the Pope both writes well and has a good translator. Given that he stresses the Gospel of Life as part his economic message, you probably can't call him a Democrat - at least not in the U.S. style. Given that he espouses the justice of government action to redistribute wealth, desires that the UN be reformed to have teeth and is a strong supporter of organized labor - you certainly cannot call him a Republican or a Libertarian. He could probably be best pegged to the Christian Democratic Party label - they are conservative on life issues but liberal on economics. In the United States, we have no party that approximates what is in the encyclical, unless you consider the party Carl Milsted is proposing for the "Upper Left." Given Benedict's shout out to a green environmental agenda in his encyclical, this might be a good fit. I think we can safely call him a Free Liberal - as he does not directly condemn (or even mention) Capitalism - rather he says it can't be left purely to its own devices.

If Catholics actually read the encyclical or find out what is in it, i would think it would be hard to remain either a Republican or a Libertarian after reading it. I don't think the Obama Catholics will have any problem with it at all - in fact it comes close to justifying their position that the best way to end abortion is to attack poverty. Without the midwestern Catholic contingent, I am not sure the Republican Party can survive. The only question is, has the brand been so horribly damaged so that Free Liberals looking for a home won't bother taking it over.

The meeting with Obama and the Pope on Friday should prove interesting in light of the encyclical. Whoda thought that the Vatican Rotweiler and the Illinois Senator with the funny name might become buds. Given the encyclical, I frankly can't see why not. Maybe the Democrats will become the Free Liberal Party. If the GOP goes away and the Dems become too big, the natural result is schism - maybe one of the pieces will finally give Catholics and Free Liberals the political home they desire. More will be revealed.