An article by Benjamin D. Wiker in Crisis magazine:

Judged by the results, it was hard to get an angle on an encyclical that appeared to have no edges, a mere round and happy affirmation of love. Even worse, it seemed to some on the left that he’d actually joined their side. Liberal Bishop Francis Deniau, the prelate of Nevers in eastern France, soon piped to the press that Benedict’s affirmation of sexual love might just be a surprise papal wink to nudge a reversal of the Church’s ban on contraception.

Well, they didn’t call him the “Panzer-Kardinal” for nothing. Deus Caritas Est is a declaration of war, and it is loaded with ammunition—much of it stealth in design, and of such power that the Church under Benedict XVI will certainly be the Church Militant. For while on the surface Benedict only seems to be offering a theological platitude, that “God is love,” hidden to the hasty eyes of the press, buried in the intricacies of his philosophical and theological analysis, obscured from all but those initiated into Benedict’s inner circle, he really is declaring that God is love.

It will become clear—as we dig into the encyclical—that a more dangerous and constructive idea for our culture could not be imagined. It’s a brilliant strategy on Benedict’s part to hide so explosive a truth under a simple truism.