The New Republic has an interesting review of Pope Benedict's encyclical Caritas in Veritate. I think it speaks well of both that non-Catholic journal and of the substantiveness of Pope Benedict's thought, that they even took cognizance of it, and did so more thoughtfully than many Catholic commentators. At the very least, Professor Nirenberg who wrote the article did not approach his text with a red and gold pen to highlight the parts with which he agreed and blame the rest on the Vatican bureaucracy. Readers should note that the New Republic does not keep its articles available on-line for free for very long but you can access it now and print it out as well. You need to be a subscriber to access their archives.
Here are my thoughts on Nirenberg's essay.