The parish is sponsoring a series of lectures about papal encyclicals, six to be exact, by two popes, the late Benedict before he became emeritus and the incumbent Francis.

Two of the six overlap with what the predecessor had bequeathed on him, all of them calling for . . .

. . . editing.

I have not polled editors I know, or simple plain readers for that matter, but am willing to bet that I am not the only one who has had this semi-impious reaction to encyclicals asking himself or herself WHO WROTE THIS and more to the point, FOR WHOM DID HE WRITE IT?

Take the first of the three by the unusual pontiff Francis, who inherited something bearing the mark of his man Benedict and decided it would be a shame to waste, especially in view of his own extremely unusual elevation to the throne.

And so he acted and so we have:

Lumen Fidei,

issued on 29 June 2013 . . . less than four months after his election to the papacy. . . It was the first encyclical in the history of the Catholic Church written by two popes . . . begun by Pope Benedict XVI and finished by Pope Francis.

Veteran Vatican-watcher Francis X. Rocca called it

a celebration of Christian faith as the guiding light of a “successful and fruitful life”, inspiring social action as well as devotion to God, and illuminating “every aspect of human existence”, including philosophy and the natural sciences.

Its focus is on faith. Lumen Fidei = light of faith. It “completes” what Benedict had written “about charity and hope, the other two theological virtues, in his encyclicals Deus caritas est (charity/love) and Spe Salvi [hope].

Heavy-hitting stuff, to be sure. Are you, Catholic or not, willing to hear it, see what it has to offer?

OK. Take the opening. Edited.

1. The light of Faith: this is how [it’s how] the Church’s tradition speaks of the great gift brought by [what Jesus brought for us].

In John’s Gospel, Christ says of himself: "I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness" (Jn 12:46).

Saint Paul uses the same image [speaks in the same way]: "God who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts" (2 Cor 4:6).

The pagan world [on the other hand, hungering] for light, [embraced] the sun god, invok[ing it] each day at sunrise.

Yet though the sun was born anew each morning, it was clearly incapable of casting its light on all of human existence. The sun does not illumine all reality; its rays cannot penetrate to the shadow of death, the place where men’s eyes are closed to its light. [But] "no one — Saint Justin Martyr writes — has ever been ready to die for his faith in the sun".[1] Conscious of the immense horizon which their faith opened before them, Christians invoked [chose] Jesus as the true sun, "whose rays bestow life".[2]

To Martha, weeping for the death of her brother Lazarus, Jesus [he] said: "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (Jn 11:40).

Those who believe, see; they see with a light that illumines their entire journey, for it comes from the risen Christ, the morning star which never sets.

An illusory light?

That last is a nice touch.

The edit reduces the aura, the holier-than-thou mystification?

Maybe, but it reinforces its authoritative intent. Speak directly, carry big authority stick, ye messengers of the divine and sublime. Be done with the (too common) formality crutch.

And you recipients, take it as material for meditation. Anyone who objects, tell him or her it’s how Ignatius Loyola did it, it’s the meat and potatoes of the spiritual life. Do it and see how it shows you the way, provides a light for you, nothing illusory about it.

The hope in all this is to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative. Where there’s hope there’s faith, as an earlier encyclical had it. They go together, peas in a pod.

Let it go at that for now. As for the official, authorized translation of this Lumen Fidei, go here.