Fr. Raymond de Souza on the new encyclical:

This encyclical has been in the works for several years, and was much delayed in order to permit Benedict to formulate a response to the current economic crisis. While insisting that the Church has no “technical solutions to offer,” Benedict is not reluctant to offer an analysis of the world economic situation that invites a rethinking of how economic life is organized.
Caritas in Veritate makes the argument that both charity and truth are needed to underpin a just and free economic order. Truth is necessary so that “integral human development” is possible in which men and women are treated as their full human dignity demands, not as mere parts in an economic machine. Charity is essential so that our treatment of each other is not limited to mere contractual obligations, but to the real flourishing of others.
“Without the perspective of eternal life, human progress in this world is denied breathing-space. Enclosed within history, it runs the risk of being reduced to the mere accumulation of wealth,” the Pope writes about the ultimate truth of human existence. “[True development] requires a transcendent vision of the person, it needs God.”