October 29, 2020
David O'Neill
In response to increased polarization, atomization, and isolation, as well as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis released a new encyclical on October 3, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Continuing to draw inspiration from his namesake, the Holy Father took the formal title of the encyclical “Fratelli Tutti,” or “Brothers and Sisters All,” from a phrase commonly used in St. Francis’ preaching.
The encyclical follows in the pastoral style of his previous encyclicals, requiring that the reader interpret them in a slightly different manner than the more explicitly doctrinal encyclicals by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope St. John Paul II, both of whom were theologians. Like the letter on care for the sick and dying, Samaritanus Bonus, that was released by the Vatican last month, this encyclical finds its inspiration in the parable of the Good Samaritan. By following the example of the Samaritan in seeking to build bridges of human fraternity, the Holy Father says that we will see that “love shatters the chains that keep us isolated and separate; in their place, it builds bridges.”
The parable, Francis says, urges us to care for the suffering and the outcast. He continues with a condemnation of the “throwaway world” that Pope St. John Paul II called the “culture of death.” The pope decries that, “persons are no longer seen as a paramount value to be cared for and respected, especially when they are poor and disabled, ‘not yet useful’—like the unborn, or ‘no longer needed’—like the elderly.” In discussing the declining birth rate and the amount of elderly people who have died in the COVID-19 crisis, the pope laments “the relegation of the elderly to a sad and lonely existence.” He condemns the continuous prevalence of racism as “a virus that quickly mutates…and lurks in waiting” which shows that “our supposed social progress is not as real or definitive as we think.” The pope decries the exploitation and demonization of migrants, calling on the world to move beyond “primal reactions” in encountering the migrant and others on the margins, and stresses that Christians cannot set “certain political preferences above deep convictions of our faith” and “the unalienable dignity of each human person…and the supreme law of fraternal love.”
Owing to the social nature of the encyclical, the pope highlights that his encyclical is “an invitation to dialogue among all people of good will.” His inspiration for the encyclical includes not only St. Francis of Assisi and Blessed Charles de Focauld but also “brothers and sisters who are not Catholics” including Muslim Grand Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, Baptist Martin Luther King Jr., Anglican Desmond Tutu, and Hindu Mahatma Gandhi. In this he follows and quotes Vatican II’s declaration that the Church, while possessing the fullness of truth, “rejects nothing of what is true and holy” in other religions of the world.
In response to polarization, populism, and fundamentalist intolerance, the pope calls for a “better kind of politics” ordered towards the common good and centered on human dignity rather than being subject to unrestrained free-market economics. He argues that welfare projects “should be considered merely temporary responses” and instead proposes that employment is “the finest help we can give to the poor, the best path to a life of dignity.” He likewise insists that the natural right to private property is secondary to the “universal destination of the earth’s goods” which he explains as “I care for and cultivate something that I possess, in such a way that it can contribute to the good of all.”
In working towards this fraternity, he cautions against an elimination of differences and diversity. He argues that destructive ideologies cause young people “to ignore their history” and “to look down on the past.” In order to spread, these ideologies “need young people…who spurn the spiritual and human riches inherited from past generations” and look only to the future. He states that there can be no openness between peoples “except on the basis of love for one’s own land, one’s own people, one’s own cultural roots.” At the same time, he condemns a “local narcissism” that is born of “certain insecurity and fear of the other that leads to rejection.”
Significantly, the pope argues that increased globalization and “development of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons…have granted war an uncontrollable destructive power over great numbers of innocent civilians.” Because of this, he argues in the vein of Pope St. John XXIII, that it is “very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in earlier centuries to speak of the possibility of a ‘just war.’” He invokes Church Fathers Lacantius, St. Augustine, and Pope Nicholas I, along with the ability of modern states to protect society by detaining prisoners, to argue that the reader is called to work for the abolition of the death penalty and extrajudicial executions.
The Holy Father concludes the encyclical with two prayers, a “Prayer to the Creator” —a prayer people of all faiths can pray together—and “An Ecumenical Christian Prayer.” Each of these prayers petition God for the opening of human hearts so that all people recognize the God-given dignity of each person in the human family.
The full text of the encyclical can be found on the Vatican’s website, or purchased through the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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