Vatican City ? Pope Benedict XVI focused his first encyclical on love, saying Wednesday that the Roman Catholic Church has a duty through its charitable work to influence political leaders to ease suffering and promote justice.

In “God is Love,” Benedict also warns against sex without unconditional love, which he said risked turning men and women into merchandise.

It had been eagerly anticipated because inaugural encyclicals offer clues about a pontiff’s major concerns. The 71-page document can be seen as an effort by Benedict to stress the fundamental tenet of the Christian faith – love – and assert the church’s duty to exercise love through its works of charity in an unjust world.

In the encyclical, Benedict rejected the criticism of charity found in Marxist thought, which holds that charity is merely an excuse by the rich to keep the poor in their place when the rich should be working for a more just society.