Enunciative Postures in Deus Caritas Est (2005): An Analysis of The First Encyclical Signed by Benedict XVI According to Theoretical Formulations by Alain Rabatel

Abstract

Using Alain Rabatel’s reflections on points of view and enunciative responsibility, especially those founded in his work Homo narrans (2016; 2021), we sought to describe and interpret the operation of internal – enunciative – and interdiscursive – external – in the introduction to the encyclical letter Deus Caritas est (2005), signed by the Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, through the description and analysis of enunciative postures. Our main conclusion is that the primary speaker (S1), operates the dialogism of the text, first, from under-utterance and, later, through co-utterance and even over-utterance. S1 assumes part of the enunciative responsibility and associates itself with the New Testament point of view while suggesting an update of the Old Testament. In our terms, the Old one that rules is overthrown in favor of the New one that loves – that is, Christian-Catholic love. This investigation is affiliated with a broad and ongoing research agenda of analysis of modern pontifical discourse.