On October 4th, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis released a new encyclical, an open letter, on fraternity and social friendship. Titled Fratelli Tutti - Italian for “all brothers (and sisters)” - the encyclical is summarized by the USCCB in the following paragraphs:
Inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis gives us a proposal for a way of life marked by the flavor of the gospel. It is a call to love others as brothers and sisters, even when they are far from us: it is a call to open fraternity (FT 1), to recognizing and loving every person with a love without borders; it is a call to encounter others in a way that is capable of overcoming all distance and every temptation to engage in dispute, impositions, or submissions (FT 3).
Fratelli Tutti does not claim to offer a complete teaching on fraternal love, but seeks rather to consider its universal scope (FT 6).
COVID-19 force the Pope to interrupt his writing of Fratelli Tutti. This pandemic has exposed our false securities, our fragmentation, and our inability to work together (FT 7). In the face of present day attempts to eliminate or ignore others, Fratelli Tutti is an invitation to respond to God's call with a new vision of fraternity and social friendship (FT 6). The holy father hopes that, in these times, we can contribute to the rebirth of a universal aspiration to fraternity by acknowledging the dignity of each and every human person (FT 8).
I have not read the encyclical yet, but it is now my homework to do so! In the meantime, I will share what Archbishop Gomez, the head of the diocese of Los Angeles and current president of the USCCB, said about Fratelli Tutti:
"In analyzing conditions in the world today, the Holy Father provides us with a powerful and urgent vision for the moral renewal of politics and political and economic institutions from the local level to the global level, calling us to build a common future that truly serves the good of the human person. For the Church, the Pope is challenging us to overcome the individualism in our culture and to serve our neighbors in love, seeing Jesus Christ in every person, and seeking a society of justice and mercy, compassion and mutual concern. I pray that Catholics and all people of good will reflect on our Holy Father’s words here and enter into a new commitment to seek the unity of the human family.”
If the recent accents in polarization surrounding the election cycle have highlighted tensions in our society and our families, then we could certainly look to the words of Pope Francis for guidance in how to rebuild our social fabrics. Let us pray for the grace to see every person, even those across the globe we may never meet, as our brothers and sisters in the human family, created in God’s image and likeness and pursued by His undying love.