Pope Benedict XVI’s new encyclical Caritas In Veritate (Charity in Truth) reveals that the Holy See shares with President Barack Obama a concern for common good, Catholic commentators said prior to Friday’s meeting between the U.S. president and pope.

The meeting, held while Obama is in Italy for the G-8 Summit, will be “as a striking a meeting of the minds as I can think of,” Lew Daly, author of the forthcoming God’s Economy: Faith-Based Initiatives and the Caring State, said during a briefing held by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

Vincent Miller, an associate professor of theology at Georgetown University, agreed that Pope Benedict and Obama have “surprising similarities.” “Both believe in the possibility and the necessity of change but neither is a utopian,” he said. “Both are deeply pragmatic and both repeatedly disappoint their most ideological supporters who seem to fundamentally misunderstand them.”

The pope and president may be able to find common ground in sharing common critics, said Stephen Schneck, the director of the Life Cycle Institute at the Catholic University of America.

Pope Benedict’s encyclical has been criticized by both Catholics for Choice (see their statement) and conservative Catholics such as George Weigel (see his column). “The Obama administration itself has come under criticism of the extremes of the right and the left for its own common ground and third-way policy efforts.”

Speaking of the encyclical's potential “far-reaching impact on the American public square,” Schneck said it “will provide a theoretical underpinning for Catholic common-ground public policy efforts.”

The theological vision of Charity in Truth—God’s love for every human person—“inspires Christians to work with all people of good will for greater justice in the world,” said Tom Reese, S.J., a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Woodstock Theological Center.

International issues will dominate the meeting between Obama and Benedict, Reese predicted. While pro-life policies are the primary concern of the U.S. bishops, the pope is more of an international leader, he said.

“Hopefully the pope can teach the American bishops that it’s possible to walk and chew gum at the same time,” Reese said. “It’s possible to be pro-life and pro-justice. It’s possible to agree with the Obama administration and work with them on issues of justice and the economy and peace while at the same time making their case in the areas where they disagree on abortion and stem cells.”

That’s not to say the pope and Obama will agree on all social issues. Marie Dennis of the Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns and Pax Christi International said that Benedict will challenge Obama on macro-economic structures, international institutions “with teeth” that can regulate the global economy, and the connection between the economic and environment crises.

The encyclical is unsettling and speaks directly to world leaders on the economic crisis, Daly said. “Pope Benedict warned out leaders against the futility and even the danger of imposing technical solution on what is at bottom a moral collapse.

"He says our leaders mistakenly staked everything we truly value on the rich getting richer, with a theory of development of the rich setting an example for the poor, which is the very opposite of Jesus taught in the gospel.”

It will be the work of organizations such as hers, Dennis said, to bring the pope’s insights “into the practical discussions at a community and political level.”

Though the text itself is dense, it is truly for all, the political commentators agreed. “The fundamental message of this encyclical in reference to the everyday life of all Catholics and all people is that our economic activity is not something separate. It’s not a realm that follows its own rules,” Miller said. “It is deeply moral. It’s the place that we are called to exercise the love of god in the world.”