The article examines the place of Caritas in veritate in the documentary tradition of Catholic social teaching, its application of metaphysics to social questions, and its interpretation of social norms and the natural law. It treats the formative role of charity on government and world community and the application of the ethic of gratuitousness and communion on the market economy, government, and civil society. It concludes with a look at social carriers in advancing the message of the letter and with the suggestion of possible topics for investigation in theology and social ethics.