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Briefly noted

The second encyclical from Pope Benedict XVI, warning against secular ideas of progress, has prompted a lively debate among newspaper commentators in Italy—some labeling the pope a reactionary, but others springing to the pontiff’s defense. According to Vatican-watcher John Allen, who writes for the National Catholic Reporter, the encyclical could be seen as a reworking of ideas already expressed by the pope when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican’s doctrinal guardian.