Introduction:
Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis’ third Encyclical Letter on the theme of Fraternity and Social Friendship, was published on October 4, 2020 (feast of Saint Francis of Assisi). The title is an expression of this saint, who used these words to “address his brothers and sisters and proposed to them a way of life marked by the flavour of the Gospel.”
The Holy Father describes it as a “Social Encyclical,” since it draws inspiration from the Document on Human Fraternity that he had signed with the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Egypt, during his Apostolic Trip to the United Arab Emirates on February 3, 2019.
The encyclical addresses not only Catholics but all humanity, so that brotherhood and social friendship prevail and help the human family to live in a more dignified way, to build a world where rights are respected, every person is worthily welcomed, everyone can enjoy the same rights and have the same duties and where we can work together to promote social cohesion. These are all objectives that bring us closer to each other, as a human family, for the concrete good of all.
In the background of the Encyclical is the COVID-19 pandemic which, the Pope reveals, “unexpectedly erupted, exposing our false securities” as he was writing this letter. The letter is also marked by a sadness and even indignation at the scores of people who have died during the pandemic for want of better distribution of health care resources.
“If only this may prove not to be just another tragedy of history from which we learned nothing,” the pontiff writes. “If only we might rediscover once for all that we need one another,” he continues. “God willing, after all this, we will think no longer in terms of ‘them’ and ‘those,’ but only ‘us’.”
The encyclical is quite long: Over more than 43,000 words in 287 numbered paragraphs; 288 footnotes. It consists of a general introduction and eight chapters. Here is a short summary, chapter by chapter.
- Dark clouds over closed world
The first chapter reflects on the many distortions of the contemporary era. “Globalized society makes us neighbours, but it does not make us brothers and sisters.” The dark clouds over a closed world are observed in the despair and discouragement that are widespread in society, in the polarization that impedes dialogue and living together, persons are easily sacrificed and discarded; there is inequality of rights and new forms of slavery and moral deterioration and the weakening of spiritual values.
Great words, such as democracy, liberty, justice and unity are being manipulated. In the face of these challenges, Fratelli Tutti insists that “the road we must travel is that of closeness; it is the culture of encounter” that can bring people together. Despite these ‘dark clouds’ the Pope invites us to be hopeful. Hope can look beyond personal inconvenience and opens us up to grand ideals that make life more beautiful and worthwhile.
- A Stranger on the road
The second chapter is a detailed reflection on the Gospel story of the Good Samaritan—a true example in building fraternity and social friendship. The text explains an unhealthy society as one that turns its back on suffering and is “illiterate” in caring for the frail and vulnerable. In the face of so much pain and suffering, our only path is to imitate the Good Samaritan—to become neighbours to others, overcoming prejudices, personal interests, historic and cultural barriers. Love shatters chains and breaks walls. “We were made for love,” the Pope writes. Further, Fratelli Tutti summons us to be actively involved in rehabilitating our wounded societies and reminds us that we all are co-responsible in creating a society that is able to include, integrate, and lift those who have fallen or are suffering. We are exhorted to recognize Christ in the face of every excluded person.
Hence the question, “Will you pass by on the other side, or will you stop to help those wounded on the roadside?”
- Envisaging and engendering an open world
In this chapter, the Pope calls for an alternative way of thinking. We can rise to the
challenge of envisaging a new humanity. We can aspire to a world that provides land, housing and work for all. This is the true path of peace, built on love, not fear. We are exhorted to go outside the self to find a fuller existence in another and tend toward “universal fulfilment.” Promoting the good means promoting values that advance integral Human development by thinking and acting in terms of community, by combating the structural causes of poverty and inequality, by requiring the state to be present and active and to invest in assistance to the vulnerable, by ensuring that no one is excluded, by establishing a real and lasting peace based on a global ethic of solidarity and service. Love can create or build open societies that integrate everyone. A love capable of transcending borders is the basis of “social friendship.”
- A heart open to the whole world
The fourth chapter is dedicated to the theme of migration. The Pope makes a passionate invitation to all societies to welcome, protect, support and integrate the migrants whose life is “at stake,” fleeing from war, persecution, natural catastrophes, unscrupulous trafficking, ripped from their communities of origin. Our urgent mission in this is:
- Welcoming, protecting and integrating migrants and others on the margins;
- Becoming aware that either we are all saved together, or no one is saved;
- Forging a global juridical, political and economic order;
- Doing something good without expecting any personal gain or reward;
- Opening our minds and hearts to understand others different from us.
What is needed above all is global governance, an international collaboration for migration which implements long-term planning, going beyond single emergencies, on behalf of the supportive development of all peoples based on the principle of gratuitousness. In this way, countries will be able to think as “human family.” We can be open to our neighbours within a family nation by opening our minds and hearts to those who are different. In the universal communion, each human group discovers its beauty.
- A better kind of politics
The fifth chapter presents one of the most valuable forms of charity because it is placed at the service of the common good. Besides promoting the common good, a better kind of politics does not seek merely to gain votes. It serves as a channel for personal growth, promotes an economy that favours productive diversity and business creativity and is capable of a new, integral and interdisciplinary dialogue. A better politics is also one that protects work, an “essential dimension of social life”, and seeks to ensure everyone the opportunity to develop their own abilities. In this perspective, Fratelli Tutti calls for a social and political order whose passion is social charity. Social charity makes us effectively seek the good of all people, recognising all human beings as brothers and sisters, with no one excluded.
Pope Francis imagines societies that are more caring, focused on helping those in need and less swayed by market capitalism.
- Dialogue and friendship in society
To dialogue means to approach, to speak, to listen and to look at; these lead to knowing and understanding one another and to finding common ground that favours friendship and love. From here emerges the concept of the “art of encounter” with everyone, even with the world’s peripheries and with original peoples, because “each of us can learn something from others, no one is useless, and no one is expendable.” The encyclical calls upon us to build a pluralistic society where dialogue finds a way. Such a society respects the dignity of others in all circumstances, it integrates differences—guaranteeing a genuine and lasting peace; and it recognizes other people’s rights to be themselves, maintaining an atmosphere of friendliness.
Three attitudes or actions that do not favour dialogue:
- Any aggression we may manifest, for example, on social networks;;
- Monologues that do not listen to others;
- The quick and humiliating discrediting of others.
True dialogue, indeed, is what allows one to respect the point of view of others. A kind person, writes Pope Francis, creates a healthy co-existence and opens paths in places whereas exasperation burns bridges.
- Paths of renewed encounter
The value and promotion of peace is reflected on in the seventh chapter, “Paths of renewed encounter,” in which the Pope underlines that peace is connected to truth, justice and mercy. Everyone must feel “at home.” Peace-building is, therefore, “an open-ended endeavour, a never-ending task” and we have to take this path:
- In reconciliation;
- In common projects that do not deny each person’s individuality;
- In recognising, protecting and restoring the dignity of all persons;
- In option for the poor, the dispossessed and the discarded;
- In understanding and appreciating the meaning of forgiveness.
Given the present alarming scenario in the world, where COVID-19 has taken its toll and nations are engaging in different forms of war, the encyclical emphasizes the urgency of saying “Never again war!” and abolishing the death penalty. The pope says that nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and new technological combat systems “have granted war an uncontrollable destructive power over great numbers of innocent civilians.” Hence war is a failure of politics and of humanity, a shameful capitulation, a stinging defeat before the forces of evil. How great a global fund to eliminate hunger could have been established with the money invested in weapons!
- Religions at the service of fraternity in our world
In the eighth and final chapter, the Pontiff focuses on “Religions at the service of fraternity in our world.” He emphasizes that only with the awareness that we are all children of God can we live in peace with one another. The different religions contribute significantly to building fraternity. Seeking God helps us recognize one another as travelling companions, truly brothers and sisters, while the denial of religious freedom and freedom of conscience leaves humanity impoverished. The church is a home with open doors because she is a mother; she builds bridges, she breaks down walls, she sows seeds of reconciliation.
The encyclical reflects, in particular, on the role of the church: she does not “restrict her mission to the private sphere,” it states. While not engaging in politics, she does not, however, renounce the political dimension of life itself, attention to the common good, and concern for integral human development, according to evangelical principals.
SR THERESA PHAWA FMA
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