Still "On the Way"

Some time ago, amid rumors of a late-September release date for B16's long-delayed third encyclical -- Caritas in Veritate, the text on "social" concerns -- it was noted that the buzz was a tad too optimistic, and the advice went out to expect something closer to the anniversary of Papa Ratzi's second encyclical, Spe Salvi, which rolled out last 30 November.

Earlier this morning at a Synod presser, the timetable came up... and -- surprise, surprise -- an end-year pub-date's still being eyed:

“The project exists, and at this point it’s certain. We hope the pope can publish it before the end of the year,” Cardinal [Renato] Martino said at a Vatican press conference.

Sources earlier this year said the encyclical was provisionally titled, “Caritas in Veritate” (”Charity in Truth,”) and was expected to touch on issues related to social justice and globalization. The encyclical has reportedly been undergoing some revisions, and there was a rumor floating around recently that it wouldn’t be out until next spring.

Cardinal Martino added that the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, of which he’s the president, is working on a document on globalization. He said this would be a more technical document than the encyclical, taking a close look at poverty in the age of a globalized economy.

Meanwhile, the Pontifical Council `Cor Unum,’ which promotes and coordinates Catholic charitable giving, is preparing a separate document on immigration, according to Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, who spoke at the same press conference.

Speaking of Martino, the former Holy See observer to the UN and driving force behind 2007's widely covered (and oft-panned) "10 Commandments of the Road" might've reached the retirement age of 75 last year, but indications are he won't be seeing his walking papers anytime soon.

-30-